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Collection  of  Moxtij  Caroliniana 
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NUMBER  IV. 

THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES 

By  Prof.  CYRUS  THOMAS 


/ 


jfact  an&  Iibeorp  papers. 


THE  CHEROKEES 


IN 


PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES 


BY 
PROF.  CYRUS  THOMAS 


NEW   YORK : 

N.  D.  C.  HODGES,  Publisher. 

47  Lafayette  Place 

1S90 


cJ 


PREFACE. 


^ 
o 

>5 


The  present  little  work,  which  is  based  chiefly  upon  data 
obtained  while  in  charge  of  the  mound  explorations  carried 
on  by  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Ethnology,  is  presented 
to  the  public  as  indicative  of  the  direction  in  which  the 
more  recent  investigations  in  this  line  appear  to  lead. 

I  am  under  obligations  to  Major  J.  W.  Powell  for  his 
kind  permission  to  refer  to  the  data  obtained  by  the  Bureau, 
bearing  upon  the  questions  discussed  ;  but  I  must  be  held 
alone  responsible  for  the  views  presented.  The  speculative 
theories  advanced  are,  of  course,  but  tentative,  yet  are  be- 
lieved by  the  author  to  accord  more  nearly  with  the  facts 
ascertained  than  any  suggestion,   relating  to  the  subject, 

which  he  has  seen. 

C.  T. 

Washington,  July,  1890. 


THE    CHEEOKEES 

m 

PEE-OOLUMBIAjSr    TIMES. 


CHAPTER  I. 


The  present  paper  is  an  attempt  by  the  writer  to  trace 
back  the  history  of  a  single  Indian  tribe  into  the  prehistoric 
or  mound-building  age.  For  this  purpose  the  Cherokees 
have  been  selected,  partly  because  of  their  isolated  position 
geographically  and  linguistically,  and  partly  because  the 
data  bearing  upon  the  questions  that  arise  in  such  an  inves- 
tigation are  probably  more  complete  than  those  relating  to 
any  other  tribe  of  the  mound  section. 

Although  the  scope  is  thus  limited,  there  are  certain  facts 
relating  to  the  mound  region  and  the  aboriginal  inhabitants 
thereof,  considered  generally,  which  must  be  taken  into  ac- 
count in  studying  the  history  of  any  tribe  of  this  region. 

The  history  of  the  Western  Continent  is  supposed  to  begin 
with  the  discovery  by  Columbus,  all  that  antedates  that 
event  being  considered  archseologic  or  prehistoric.  While 
this  is  correct  in  the  general  sense  in  which  it  is  used,  yet 
the  history  of  the  different  sections  and  different  tribes  be- 
gins with  the  first  knowledge  of  them  obtained  by  Europe- 
ans. The  border-line,  therefore,  between  the  historic  and 
prehistoric  eras,  varies  in  date  when  referred  to  the  different 


2  THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES. 

sections  and  peoples.  For  example:  history  tells  us  nothing 
of  what  was  transpiring  in  the  area  now  called  Ohio  for  a 
hundred  hears  after  Cortez  landed  in  Mexico.  If  it  be  pos- 
sible to  ascertain  this,  it  must  be  sought  in  the  traditions  of 
the  aborigines,  the  ancient  monuments,  and  other  prehistoric 
data  of  that  area. 

It  is  well  known  that  when  the  various  sections  of  this 
country  were  first  visited  by  Europeans,  they  were  found 
occupied  by  Indian  tribes ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  there 
is  no  historical  or  other  evidence,  unless  it  be  found  in  the 
monuments,  that  any  other  race  or  people  than  the  Indians 
ever  occupied  this  region.  (The  possibility  of  an  Irish, 
Welsh,  or  Northmen  pre-Columbian  settlement  is  not  at  the 
present  time  taken  into  consideration,  as  it  has  no  bearing 
on  the  subject  now  under  discussion.)  These  tribes  all  be- 
longed relatively  to  the  same  state  of  culture,  which  was  of 
a  grade  inferior  to  that  of  the  more  advanced  nations  of 
Mexico  and  Central  America. 

Though  not  recorded  in  written  or  printed  tomes,  these 
aboriginal  tribes  must  have  had  a  history  which  still  lived 
to  some  extent  in  their  traditions,  languages,  customs,  arts, 
beliefs,  and  relics,  when  the  whites  first  became  acquainted 
with  them.  These  languages,  customs,  etc.,  though  belong- 
ing to  a  plane  much  lower  than  that  which  ethnologists  will 
allow  us  to  call  civilized,  were  not  the  growth  of  a  season  or 
a  lifetime,  but  of  centuries.  If  they  exhibit  tribal  or  ethnic 
peculiarities,  it  may  be  taken  for  granted  that  these  pecul- 
iarities attained  their  growth  subsequent  to  the  separation 
of  the  stock  into  the  tribes  among  which  they  are  found.  If 
they  are  local  or  confined  to  certain  geographical  areas,  it  is 
reasonable  to  assume  that  they  were  adopted  by  the  tribes 
after  reaching  these  localities.  For  example:  the  peculiari- 
ties of  the  civilization  of  Mexico  and  Central  America,  as 
seen  at  the  time  of  the  discovery  of  these  countries,  must  be 
considered  indigenous,  so  long  as  we  are  unable  to  trace 


■^ 


THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES.  3 

them  to  other  sections  or  other  peoples, — a  conclusion 
adopted  by  leading  historians  and  antiquarians.  The  same 
thing"  is  true  to  a  more  limited  extent  in  regard  to  the  sub- 
divisions of  these  comprehensive  groups,  and  affords  some 
basis  for  estimating  the  period  of  occupation. 

Those  habits,  customs,  or  arts  common  among  savage 
peoples,  of  course  teach  nothing  in  regard  to  the  occupants  of 
any  special  locality,  except  to  indicate  their  culture  status. 
It  is  therefore  to  those  which  are  local  or  ethnic  that  we 
must  looii  for  guidance  in  our  search. 

A  second  fact  relating  to  the  mound  region  generally  is, 
that  the  ancient  remains  found  in  it,  though  presenting  va- 
rious types  and  numerous  important  differences,  probably 
the  result  of  different  local  or  tribal  customs,  are  evidently 
the  work  of  peoples  in  about  the  same  stage  of  culture.  But 
to  this  and  other  general  lessons  taught  by  the  monuments 
there  will  be  occasion  to  call  attention  further  on. 

In  order  to  clearly  understand  the  position  of  the  Chero- 
kees  relative  to  the  other  tribes  in  the  mound  area,  we  re- 
fer briefly  to  the  linguistic  distribution  of  these  tribes  when 
they  first  became  known  to  the  whites. 

Stretching  along  the  Atlantic  coast  from  the  mouth  of  the 
St.  Lawrence  to  Pamlico  Sound,  and  extending  westward  to 
the  Mississippi,  was  the  great  Algonkin  family,  with  its 
numerous  divisions  and  branches.  In  the  midst  of  this 
great  linguistic  sea,  occupying  most  of  what  is  now  New 
York,  and  extending  westward  on  both  sides  of  the  Lakes  to 
Michigan  (with  a  closely  allied  and  also  a  distant  offshoot — 
the  latter  the  Cherokees  — in  the  region  of  Carolina),  was  the 
Huron-Iroquois  family,  with  its  various  branches.  About 
the  head  waters  of  the  Mississippi,  and  reaching  westward 
far  out  upon  the  plains  and  southward  to  the  Arkansas 
River,  was  the  Dakotan  family.  Spread  over  the  Gulf 
States  was  the  Muskokee  group.  Add  to  these  the  vestiges 
of  other  stocks  found  driven,  so  to  speak,  into  the  corners 


4  THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES. 

here  and  there,  and  we  have  a  condition  that  could  not  have 
been  of  mushroom  growth,  but  the  outcome  of  centuries.  It 
is  quite  probable  that  the  family  stems  migrated  from  other 
sections ;  but  the  splitting  into  branches  and  dialects  took 
place,  in  part  at  least,  after  reaching  the  area  in  which  these 
stocks  were  found.  One  proof  of  this  is  seen  in  the  group- 
ing and  geographical  distribution  of  the  comprehensive  fami- 
lies over  the  continent. 

Judging  by  the  growth  of  languages  in  Europe,  although 
the  cases  are  not  exactly  parallel,  centuries  must  be  allowed 
for  this  local  development.  It  is  said  by  those  best  qualified 
to  judge,  that  the  shifting,  changing,  and  tribal  develop- 
ment known  to  have  taken  place  among  the  Dakotas  of  the 
North-west  alone,  must  have  required  three  or  four  centuries 
in  advance  of  the  Columbian  discovery.  The  necessary  in- 
ference to  be  drawn  from  this  is,  that  the  tribes,  or  rather 
families  of  tribes,  found  inhabiting  this  "  mound  region  "  by 
the  first  European  explorers,  had  occupied  substantially  the 
same  area  for  hundreds  of  years  previous  thereto.  Not  that 
there  was  no  shifting  or  changing  of  positions  by  tribes,  for 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  this  occurred  to  a  greater  or  less 
extent,  but  that  the  families  or  stocks  mentioned,  or  most  of 
them,  were  in  the  area  included  in  the  eastern  half  of  the 
United  States  and  Canada  (which  we  designate  in  a  broad 
sense  the  "  mound  region")  for  centuries  preceding  the  ad- 
vent of  the  white  man.  The  same  method  of  reasoning  will 
apply,  to  some  extent,  to  the  growth  of  customs,  as  this  must 
also  have  required  time. 

The  result  of  this  course  of  reasoning,  which  seems  to  be 
justified  by  the  facts,  is  to  force  us  to  one  of  the  following 
conclusions:  1st,  That  the  mound-builders,  if  a  difPerent 
race  or  people  from  the  Indians,  disappeared  from  the 
mound  area  before  the  coming  of  the  latter,  and  many  centu- 
ries before  the  advent  of  the  whites;  or,  2d,  That  there  was 
an  overlapping  of  the  two  races,  that  is  to  say,  they  occupied 


V 


THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES.  5 

the  area  jointly  for  some  centuries;  or,  3d,  That  the  Indians 
were  the  authors  of  the  ancient  monuments.  As  it  will  be 
necessary  in  the  course  of  this  investigation  to  discuss  the  ques- 
tion of  the  authorship  of  some  of  these  antiquities,  the  decision 
reached  on  this  subject  is  important  in  this  connection. 

Turning-  now  to  the  Cherokees,  we  will  proceed  with  the 
special  object  of  this  paper. 

It  is  conceded  that  there  is  no  hope  of  reconstructing  a 
systematic  pre-Columbian  history  of  any  one  of  the  tribes  or 
peoples  of  the  area  under  consideration.  The  utmost  that 
can  be  expected  is,  by  a  careful  and  thorough  correlation  of 
the  data,  to  throw  some  light  into  that  past  which  has  so 
long  been  considered  as  wrapped  in  impenetrable  mystery. 
It  is  by  no  means  probable  that  as  much  will  be  accom- 
plished in  regard  to  the  past  of  the  people  of  this  region,  as 
has  been  done  for  Mexico  and  Central  America,  yet  it  is  the 
belief  of  the  writer  that  much  more  is  possible  in  this  direc- 
tion than  has  generally  been  supposed. 

This  tribe  was  for  a  long  time  a  puzzling  factor  to  students 
of  ethnology,  as  they  were  in  doubt  whether  to  consider 
it  an  abnormal  offshoot  from  one  of  the  well-known  Indian 
stocks  or  the  remnant  of  some  undetermined  or  otherwise 
extinct  family.  It  now  appears,  however,  to  be  the  clearly 
settled  opinion  of  linguists  that  the  language  is  an  offshoot 
of  the  Huron-Iroquois  stock.  This  is  an  important  fact  in 
the  study  of  the  past,  not  only  of  this  tribe,  but  also  of  the 
family  with  which  it  is  connected,  as  it  necessitates  looking 
to  the  same  point  for  the  origin  of  both. 

When  the  people  of  this  tribe  first  became  known  to  the 
Europeans,  they  were  located  in  the  mountainous  region  in- 
cluding the  south-east  corner  of  what  is  now  Tennessee,  the 
south-west  portion  of  North  Carolina,  the  north-west  part  of 
South  Carolina,  and  a  strip  along  the  northern  border  of 
Georgia,— a  section  which  they  continued  to  occupy  down 
to  a  recent  date,  and  where  a  remnant  may  still  be  found. 


6  THE   CHEROKEES  IN   PRE-COLUMBIAN   TIMES. 

The  first  notice  of  them  is  found  in  the  chronicles  of  De 
Soto's  expedition,  which  speak  of  them  as  the  "  Chelaques" 
or  ''  Achelaques,"  words  which  give  more  correctly  the 
sound  of  the  name  they  gave  themselves  than  the  modern 
Anglicized  form  "Cherokee."  These  early  records  locate 
them  about  the  head  waters  of  the  Savannah  River.  The 
exact  route  of  the  Spanish  expedition  has  not  been  satisfac- 
torily determined ;  nevertheless  it  is  conceded  by  those  best 
qualified  to  decide,  that,  when  De  Soto  encountered  people 
of  this  tribe,  he  was  somewhere  about  the  head  waters  of  the 
Savannah,  probably  in  the  north-eastern  part  of  Georgia. 
It  was  in  this  section,  presumably  in  western  North  Caro- 
lina, that  John  Lederer  encountered  them  during  his  visit 
to  this  part  of  the  continent  in  1669-70,  for  there  can  be  no 
longer  any  reasonable  doubt  that  he  alludes  to  them  where 
he  speaks  of  the  Indians  of  the  "  Apalatian  Mountains." 
Their  subsequent  history  is  too  well  known  to  require  fur- 
ther mention  here. 

Their  relation  to  the  Iroquois  indicates  a  northern  rather 
than  a  southern  or  south-western  origin.  This  seems  to  be 
confirmed  by  the  few  rays  of  light  which  tradition,  the  rec- 
ords, and  archaeology  throw  upon  their  past  history.  Hay- 
wood states,  in  his  ' '  Natural  and  Aboriginal  History  of 
Tennessee,"  that  they  "  were  firmly  established  on  the  Ten- 
nessee River  or  Hogohega  (the  Holston)  before  the  year 
1650,  and  had  dominion  over  all  the  country  on  the  east 
side  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains,  which  includes  the  head 
waters  of  the  Yadkin,  Catawba,  Broad  River,  and  the  head 
waters  of  the  Savannah," — a  statement  borne  out  by  the  fact 
that  as  late  as  1756,  when  the  English  built  Fort  Dobbs  on 
the  Yadkin,  not  far  from  Salisbury,  they  first  obtained  the 
privilege  of  doing  so  by  treaty  with  Atacullaculla,  the  Cher- 
okee chief.  The  same  authority  states  that  they  formerly 
had  temporary  settlements  on  New  River  (the  Upper  Ka- 
nawha) and  on   the  head  waters  of  the  Holston.     In  De 


THE   CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN   TIMES.  7 

Lisle's  maps,  1700  to  1712,  Cherokee  villages  are  located  on 
the  extreme  head  waters  of  the  Holston  and  Clinch  Rivers, 
as  well  as  on  and  about  the  mouth  of  the  Little  Tennessee. 

Their  traditions  in  regard  to  their  migrations  are  some- 
what confused,  and,  like  all  Indian  traditions,  must  be  taken 
only  with  careful  sifting,  and  where  strengthened  by  cor- 
roborative evidence  or  well-marked  indications  of  being  an- 
cient. Yet  there  is  a  uniformity  in  some  respects  which, 
independent  of  other  evidence,  would  justify  the  assumption 
that  they  contain  a  vein  of  truth  and  have  some  basis  of 
fact. 

One  of  the  most  important  of  these  is  that  mentioned  by 
John  Haywood  in  the  work  above  named,  in  which  they 
claim  to  have  formerly  lived  in  the  Ohio  valley,  and  to 
have  constructed  the  Grave  Creek  mound  and  other  earth- 
works in  that  section.  This  author's  statement  is  as  fol- 
lows:— 

"  The  Cherokees  had  an  oration  in  which  was  contained 
the  history  of  their  migrations,  which  was  lengthy."  This 
related  "that  they  came  from  the  upper  part  of  the  Ohio, 
where  they  erected  the  mounds  on  Grave  Creek,  and  that  they 
removed  hither  [East  Tennessee]  from  the  country  where  Mon- 
ticello  is  situated."  This  tradition  of  their  migrations  was, 
it  seems,  preserved  and  handed  down  by  their  official  ora- 
tors, who  repeated  it  annually  in  public  at  the  national  fes- 
tival of  the  green-corn  dance.  Haywood  adds,  "It  is  now 
nearly  forgotten ;  "  and  Dr.  D.  G.  Brinton  informs  us,  in 
"  The  Lenape  and  their  Legends,"  that  he  has  endeavored 
in  vain  to  recover  some  fragments  of  it  from  the  present 
residents  of  the  Cherokee  nation. 

Haywood  asserts,  probably  from  original  statements  made 
to  him,  that  "  before  the  year  1690  the  Cherokees,  who  were 
once  settled  upon  the  Appomattox  River  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Monticello,  left  their  former  abodes,  and  came  to 
the  West,     The  Powhatans  are  said  by  their  descendants  to 


8  THE  CHEEOKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES. 

have  once  been  a  part  of  this  nation.  The  probability  is  that 
a  migration  took  place  about  or  soon  after  the  year  1632, 
when  the  Virginians  suddenly  and  unexpectedly  fell  upon 
the  Indians,  killing  all  they  could  find,  cutting  up  and  de- 
stroying their  crops,  and  causing  great  numbers  to  perish  by 
famine.  They  came  to  New  Eiver  and  made  a  temporary 
settlement,  and  also  on  the  head  of  the  Holston." 

It  is  obvious  that  in  this  passage  the  author  has  given  his 
conclusion  based  on  the  "oration"  mentioned,  connecting 
with  it  the  historical  event  of  the  sudden  onslaught  by  the 
Virginia  settlers  upon  the  Indians,  in  1632.  That  his  deduc- 
tion in  this  respect  is  erroneous  if  intended  to  apply  to  the 
whole  tribe,  is  apparent  from  the  following  facts:  first,  be- 
cause it  is  evident  that  a  portion,  at  least,  of  the  tribe  was 
located  in  their  historic  seat,  in  and  about  East  Tennessee 
and  western  North  Carolina,  when  De  Soto  passed  through 
the  northern  part  of  Georgia  in  1540,  as  it  is  admitted  that 
the  "  Chelaques  "or  "  Achelaques  "  mentioned  by  the  chron- 
iclers of  his  expedition  were  Cherokees;  second,  because 
John  Lederer,  who  visited  this  region  in  1669-70,  speaking 
of  the  Indians  of  the  "Apalatian  Mountains," — doubtless  the 
Cherokees,  as  he  was  at  that  time  somewhere  in  western 
North  Carolina, — says,  in  his  "Discoveries,"  "The  Indians 
of  these  parts  are  none  of  those  which  the  English  removed 
from  Virginia,  but  were  driven  by  an  enemy  from  the  north- 
west and  invited  to  fix  here  by  an  oracle,  as  they  pretend, 
above  four  hundred  years  ago;  "  third,  from  what  is  shown 
by  the  archaeologic  evidence  which  will  be  introduced  fur- 
ther on. 

The  language  of  Lederer  indicates  that  he  had  heard  sub- 
stantially the  same  tradition  as  that  of  which  Haywood 
fipeaks.  An  important  addition,  however,  is  the  supposed 
date  of  this  migration,  which  this  author  says  was  "above 
four  hundred  years"  preceding  the  date  at  which  he  writes 
1,1671-72),  which  would  place  it  in  the  latter  part  of  thethir- 


THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES.  9 

teenth  century.  The  tradition  as  given  by  Haywood  brings 
them  from  the  valley  of  the  Upper  Ohio;  that  by  Lederer, 
from  the  north  west, — a  close  agreement  as  to  the  direction 
of  their  former  home. 

It  is  doubtful  whether  any  importance  is  to  be  attached  to 
Haywood's  statement,  that  there  was  formerly  a  settlement 
in  the  vicinity  of  Monticello,  Va.  It  is  possible,  that,  dur- 
ing the  migration  toward  the  south-east,  a  party  or  clan 
broke  off  from  the  main  body  of  the  tribe,  and  settled  in  that 
region,  where  they  remained  until  the  general  attack  by  the 
whites  in  the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth  century.  Mr. 
Royce,  in  his  paper  on  the  "Cherokee  Nation  of  Indians," 
in  the  "  Fifth  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology," 
gives  a  tradition  preserved  among  the  Mohicans  (or  Stock- 
bridges)  which  he  suggests  may  have  some  bearing  on  this 
question.  It  is  that  "  many  thousand  moons  ago,  before  the 
white  men  came  over  the  great  water,  the  Delawares  dwelt 
along  the  banks  of  the  river  that  bears  their  name.  They 
liad  enjoyed  a  long  era  of  peace  and  prosperity,  when  the 
Cherokees,  Nanticokes,  and  some  other  nation  whose  name 
had  been  forgotten,  envying  their  condition,  came  from  the 
south  with  a  great  army,  and  made  war  upon  them.  They 
vanquished  the  Delawares,  and  drove  them  to  an  island  in 
the  river.  The  latter  sent  for  assistance  to  the  Mohicans, 
who  promptly  came  to  their  relief,  and  the  invaders  were  in 
turn  defeated  with  great  slaughter,  and  put  to  flight.  They 
sued  for  peace,  and  it  was  granted  on  condition  that  they 
should  return  home  and  never  again  make  war  on  the  Dela- 
wares or  their  allies.  These  terms  were  agreed  to,  and  the 
Cherokees  and  Nanticokes  ever  remained  faithful  to  the  con- 
ditions of  the  treaty." 

Passing  over  the  improbability  that  a  marauding  party 
forced  to  fly  would  stop  and  sue  for  peace,  the  tradition 
may,  after  all,  have  some  basis  of  fact,  as  there  is  nothing 
improbable  in  the  supposition  that  a  band  of  Cherokees  went 


10  THE   CHEROKEES  IN   PRE-COLUMBIAN   TIMES. 

north  from  the  hanks  of  the  Holston  or  Kanawha  as  far  as 
the  Delaware  on  a  war  expedition. 

What  is  supposed  to  be  the  earliest  notice  of  this  tribe 
through  the  settlers  of  Virginia  is  that  given  by  the  historian 
Burke.  According  to  this  author,  Sir  William  Berkely, 
governor  of  that  State,  sent  out,  in  1667,  an  expedition  con- 
sisting of  fourteen  whites  and  an  equal  number  of  friendly 
Indians,  under  command  of  Capt.  Henry  Blatt,  to  explore 
the  mountainous  region  to  the  west.  After  seven  days' 
travel  from  their  point  of  departure  at  Appomattox,  they 
reached  the  foot  of  the  mountains.  The  first  ridge  they 
crossed  is  described  as  being  neither  very  high  nor  steep; 
but  the  succeeding  ones,  according  to  their  statement, 
"  seemed  to  touch  the  clouds,"  and  were  so  steep  that  an 
average  day's  march  while  passing  over  them  did  not  exceed 
three  miles.  After  passing  beyond  the  mountains  they  came 
into  a  level  region,  through  which  a  stream  flowed  in  a 
westward  course.  Following  this  for  a  few  days,  they 
reached  some  old  fields  and  recently  deserted  Indian  cabins. 
Beyond  this  point  their  Indian  guides  refused  to  proceed, 
alleging  that  not  far  away  dwelt  a  powerful  tribe  that  never 
suffered  strangers  who  discovered  their  towns  to  return 
alive:  consequently  the  party  was  forced  to  return.  It  is 
believed  by  some  authorities  that  the  powerful  nation  alluded 
to  in  the  narrative  of  this  expedition  was  the  Cherokees. 

It  is  probable  that  the  point  reached  was  what  is  now 
Floyd  OP  Montgomery  County,  and  that  the  Indians  so  much 
dreaded  were  located  on  New  River  or  the  extreme  head 
waters  of  the  Holston. 

Another  tradition  related  by  Haywood  is  that  one  party  or 
band  of  the  tribo  came  to  their  mountain  home  from  the 
neighborhood  of  Charleston,  S.C.,  and  settled  south  of  the 
Little  Tennessee,  near  what  is  now  the  Georgia  line.  The 
people  of  this  branch  called  themselves  "Ketawanga,"  and 
came  last  into  the  country 


THE   CHEROKEES  IN   PRE-COLUJEBIAN  TIMES.  11 

Another  tradition  is,  that  when  they  first  came  into  this 
region  they  found  it  uninhabited  with  the  exception  of  a 
Creek  settlement  on  the  Hiawassee  River.  Ramsey,  upon 
what  authority  is  not  known,  says  this  was  a  Uchee  settlement. 

It  is  apparent  that  all  these  traditions,  except  that  relating 
to  a  clan  from  the  neighborhood  of  Charleston,  point  to 
some  northern  locality  as  the  former  home  of  the  tribe,  and 
that  in  this  respect  they  correspond  with  the  linguistic  indi- 
cations. But  these  do  not  exhaust  the  evidence  bearing  on 
this  question,  as  there  is  a  tradition  of  another  nation,  and 
in  this  case  one  of  the  best  known  and  most  reliable  of  all 
Indian  traditions,  which  agrees  with  the  others  in  this 
respect.  This  is  the  Delaware  legend  regarding  their  ances- 
tral home  and  migrations.  The  earliest  writer  who  gives  a 
detailed  statement  of  it  is  the  Rev.  Charles  Beatty,  who  vis- 
ited the  Delaware  settlements  in  Ohio  in  1767.  According 
to  this  authority,  "of  old  time  their  people  were  divided  by 
a  river,  nine  parts  of  ten  passing  over  the  river  and  one  part 
remaining  behind ;  that  they  knew  not,  for  certainty,  how 
they  came  to  this  continent;  but  account  thus  for  their  first 
coming  into  these  parts  where  they  are  now  settled;  that  a 
king  of  their  nation,  wiiere  they  formerly  lived,  far  to  the 
west,  left  his  kingdom  to  his  two  sons;  that  the  one  son 
making  war  upon  the  other,  the  latter  thereupon  determined 
to  depart  and  seek  some  new  habitation ;  that  accordingly  he 
sat  out  accompanied  by  a  number  of  his  people  and  that, 
after  wandering  to  and  fro  for  the  space  of  forty  years,  they 
at  length  came  to  Delaware  River  where  they  settled  three 
hundred  and  seventy  years  ago.  The  way  they  keep  an 
account  of  this  is  by  putting  a  black  bead  of  wampum  every 
year  on  a  belt  they  keep  for  that  purpose.'' 

The  reason  for  mentioning  this  brief  notice  of  the  tradi- 
tion, rather  than  relying  entirely  on  the  fuller  account  given 
below,  is  that  it  mentions  a  date  purporting  to  be  derived 
from  the  Indians. 


12  THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES. 

The  tradition  as  given  by  Hecke welder,  who  heard  it  from 
the  Delawares  themselves,  and  had  the  advantage  of  their 
interpretation  and  comments,  is  as  follows : — 

'^The  Lenni  Lenape  (according  to  the  tradition  handed 
down  to  them  by  their  ancestors)  resided  many  hundred 
years  ago  in  a  very  distant  country  in  the  western  part  of  the 
American  continent.  For  some  reason  which  I  do  not  find 
accounted  for,  they  determined  on  migrating  to  the  east- 
ward, and  accordingly  set  out  together  in  a  body.  After  a 
very  long  journey  and  many  nights'  encampment  by  the 
way,  they  at  length  arrived  on  the  Namaesi-Sipu,  where 
they  fell  in  with  the  Mengwe,  who  had  likewise  emigrated 
from  a  distant  country  and  had  struck  upon  this  river  some- 
what higher  up.  Their  object  was  the  same  with  that  of  the 
Delawares:  they  were  proceeding  on  to  the  eastward  until 
they  should  find  a  country  that  pleased  them.  The  spies 
which  the  Lenape  had  sent  forward  for  the  purpose  of  rec- 
onnoitring, had,  long  before  their  arrival,  discovered  that 
the  country  east  of  the  Mississippi  was  inhabited  by  a  very 
powerful  nation,  who  had  many  large  towns  built  on  the 
great  rivers  flowing  through  their  land.  Those  people  (as  I 
was  told)  called  themselves  Talligeu  or  Tallegewi.  .  .  . 
Many  wonderful  things  are  told  of  this  famous  people. 
They  are  said  to  have  been  remarkably  tall  and  stout;  and 
there  is  a  tradition  that  there  were  giants  among  them,  people 
of  a  much  larger  size  than  the  tallest  of  the  Lenape.  It  is  re- 
lated that  they  had  built  to  themselves  regular  fortifications 
or  intrenchments,  from  whence  they  would  sally  out,  but 
were  generally  repulsed.  I  have  spen  many  of  the  fortifica- 
tions said  to  have  been  built  by  them,  two  of  which  in  par- 
ticular were  remarkable.  One  of  them  was  near  the  mouth 
of  the  Eiver  Huron,  which  empties  itself  into  the  Lake  St. 
Clair  on  the  north  side  of  that  lake,  at  the  distance  of  about 
twenty  miles  north-east  of  Detroit.  This  spot  of  ground  was, 
in  the  year  1776,  owned  and  occupied   by  a  Mr.  Tucker. 


THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES.  13 

The  other  works,  properly  intrenchments,  being  walls  or 
banks  of  earth  regularly  thrown  up,  with  a  deep  ditch  on 
the  outside,  were  on  the  Huron  River,  east  of  the  Sandusky, 
about  six  or  eight  miles  from  Lake  Erie.  Outside  of  the 
gateway  of  each  of  these  two  intrenchments,  which  lay 
within  a  mile  of  each  other,  were  a  number  of  large  flat 
mounds,  in  which,  the  Indian  pilot  said,  were  buried  hun- 
dreds of  the  slain  Tallegwi  whom  I  shall  hereafter,  with 
Col.  Gibson,  call  Alligewi.  Of  these  intrenchments,  Mr. 
Abraham  Steiner,  who  was  with  me  at  the  time  when  I 
saw  them,  gave  a  very  accurate  description,  which  was  pub- 
lished at  Philadelphia  in  1789  or  1790,  in  some  periodical 
work  the  name  of  which  I  cannot  at  present  remember. 

"  When  the  Lenape  arrived  on  the  banks  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, they  sent  a  message  to  the  Alligewi  to  request  permis- 
sion to  settle  themselves  in  their  neighborhood.  This  was 
refused  them,  but  they  obtained  leave  to  pass  through  the 
country  and  seek  a  settlement  farther  to  the  eastward.  They 
accordingly  began  to  cross  the  Namaesi-Sipu,  when  the  Al- 
ligewi, seeing  that  their  numbers  were  so  very  great,  and  in 
fact  they  consisted  of  many  thousands,  made  a  furious  at- 
tack upon  those  who  had  crossed,  threatening  them  all  with 
destruction  if  they  dared  to  persist  in  coming  over  to  their 
side  of  the  river.  Fired  at  the  treachery  of  these  people 
and  the  great  loss  of  men  they  had  sustained,  and,  besides, 
not  being  prepared  for  a  conflict,  the  Lenape  consulted  on 
what  was  to  be  done, — whether  to  retreat  in  the  best  man- 
ner they  could,  or  to  try  their  strength  and  let  the  enemy 
see  that  they  were  not  cowards,  but  men,  and  too  high- 
minded  to  suffer  themselves  to  be  driven  off  before  they  had 
made  a  trial  of  their  strength  and  were  convinced  that  the 
enemy  was  too  powerful  for  them.  The  Mengwe,  who  had 
hitherto  been  satisfied  with  being  spectators  from  a  distance, 
offered  to  join  them  on  condition  that  after  conquering  the 
country   they  should   be   entitled   to   share  it  with   them. 


14  THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES. 

Their  proposal  was  accepted,  and  the  resolution  was  taken 
by  the  two  nations  to  conquer  or  die. 

"  Having  thus  united  their  forces,  the  Lenape  and  Meng- 
we  declared  war  against  the  Alligewi,  and  great  battles 
were  fought,  in  which  many  warriors  fell  on  both  sides. 
The  enemy  fortified  their  large  towns  and  erected  fortifica- 
tions, especially  on  large  rivers  or  near  lakes,  where  they 
were  successfully  attacked  and  sometimes  stormed  by  the 
allies.  An  engagement  took  place  in  which  hundreds  fell, 
who  were  afterwards  buried  in  holes,  or  laid  together  in 
heaps  and  covered  over  with  earth.  No  quarter  was  given, 
so  that  the  Alligewi  at  last,  finding  that  their  destruction 
was  inevitable  if  they  persisted  in  their  obstinacy,  abandoned 
the  country  to  the  conquerors,  and  fled  down  the  Mississippi 
River,  from  whence  they  never  returned. 

* '  The  war  which  was  carried  on  with  this  nation  lasted 
many  years,  during  which  the  Lenape  lost  a  great  number 
of  their  warriors,  while  the  Mengwe  would  always  hang 
back  in  the  rear,  leaving  them  to  face  the  enemy.  In  the 
end  the  conquerors  divided  the  country  between  themselves. 
The  Mengwe  made  choice  of  the  lauds  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
Great  Lakes  and  on  their  tributary  streams,  and  the  Lenape 
took  possession  of  the  country  to  the  south.  For  a  long 
period  of  time,  some  say  many  hundred  years,  the  two 
nations  resided  peacefully  in  this  country,  and  increased 
very  fast.  Some  of  their  most  enterprising  huntsmen  and 
warriors  crossed  the  great  swamps,  and,  falling  on  streams 
running  to  the  eastward,  followed  them  down  to  the  great 
bay  river  (meaning  the  Susquehanna,  which  they  call  the 
great  bay  river  from  where  the  west  branch  falls  into  the 
main  stream),  thence  into  the  bay  itself,  which  we  call 
Chesapeake.  As  they  pursued  their  travels  partly  by  land 
and  partly  by  water,  sometimes  near  and  at  other  times  on 
the  great  salt-water  lake,  as  they  call  the  sea,  they  discov- 
ered the  great  river  which  we  call  the  Delaware." 


THE   CHEROKEES   IN   PRE-COLUMBIAN   TIMES.  15 

If  this  tradition  has  any  foundation  in  fact  (and  it  certainly 
seems  to  have),  there  must  have  been  a  people  to  whom  the 
name  *'  Tallegvvi "  was  applied,  for  on  this  a  large  portion  of 
it  hangs.  Who  were  they  ?  Is  it  possible  to  trace  them  to 
any  tribe  of  modern  times  ?  The  supposition  of  Col.  Gibson 
mentioned  by  Hecke welder,  that  the  name  survives  in  "Alle- 
ghany," applied  to  the  chief  river  and  mountains  of  western 
Pennsylvania,  is  not  generally  accepted  by  linguists  of  the 
present  day.  Hecke  welder  was  of  opinion  that  "  Talligewi" 
was  a  word  foreign  to  the  Algonkin,  which  was  simply 
adopted  by  the  Dela wares.  Dr.  Brinton  says,  "It  is  not 
necessarily  connected  with  Alleghany,  which  may  be  pure 
Algonquin.  He  (Heckewelder)  says,  'Those  people  called 
themselves  Talligeu  or  Talligewi.'  The  accent  as  he  gives 
it,  'Talligewi,'  shows  that  the  word  is  Tallike,  with  the  sub- 
stantive verb  termination,  so  that  Talligewi  means  '  He  is  a 
Tallike '  or  '  It  is  of  (belongs  to)  the  Tallike  '"  ("  The  Lenape 
and  their  Legends,"  p.  320). 

Heckewelder's  account,  no  doubt  colored  to  some  extent  by 
his  own  interpretation,  varies  slightly  from  the  tradition  as 
given  in  the  "  Walam  Olum."  He  interprets  Namaesi  Sipu 
by  "Mississippi"  because  of  his  opinion  that  the  migration 
was  from  the  west.  It  is  more  probable  that  Mr.  Hale  is 
correct  in  assuming  that  it  was  some  portion  of  the  great 
river  of  the  north  (the  St.  Lawrence)  which  connects 
together  and  forms  the  outlet  for  the  Great  Lakes,  possibly 
that  portion  which  connects  Lake  Huron  with  Lake  Erie. 
If  this  supposition  be  accepted,  it  would  lead  to  the  inference 
that  the  Talamatan — the  people  who  joined  the  Delawares  in 
their  war  with  the  Tallegwi — were  Hurons  or  Huron- 
Iroquois  previous  to  separation.  Mr.  Hale's  views  on  this 
question  are  expressed  in  the  American  Antiquarian, 
April,  1883,  as  follows: — 

"The  country  from  which  the  Lenape  migrated  was 
Shinake,  the  '  land  of  fir-trees ;'  not  in  the  west,  but  in  the 


16  THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES. 

far  north, — evidently  the  woody  region  north  of  Lake  Su- 
perior.  The  people  who  joined  them  in  the  war  against  the 
Allighewi  (or  Tallegwi,  as  they  are  called  in  this  record) 
were  the  Talaraatan,  a  name  meaning  '  not  of  themselves,' 
whom  Mr.  Squier  identifies  with  the  Hurons,  and  no  doubt 
correctly,  if  we  understand  by  this  name  the  Huron- 
Iroquois  people  as  they  existed  before  their  separation.  The 
river  which  they  crossed  was  the  Messeesipe,  the  '  Great 
River  '  beyond  which  the  Tallegwi  were  found  '  possessing 
the  east.'  That  this  river  is  not  the  Mississippi  is  evident 
from  the  fact  that  the  works  of  the  mound-builders  extended 
far  to  the  westward  of  the  latter  river,  and  would  have 
been  encountered  by  the  invading  nations  if  they  had  ap- 
proached it  from  the  west  long  before  they  had  arrived  at 
its  banks. 

"  The  great  river  was  apparently  the  Upper  St.  Lawrence, 
and  most  probably  that  portion  of  it  which  flows  from  Lake 
Huron  to  Lake  Erie,  and  which  is  commonly  known  as  the 
Detroit  River.  Near  this  river — according  to  Heckewelder, 
at  a  point  west  of  Lake  St.  Clair,  and  also  at  another  place 
just  south  of  Lake  Erie — some  desperate  conflicts  took  place. 
Hundreds  of  slain  Tallegwi,  as  he  was  told,  were  buried 
under  mounds  in  that  vicinity.  This  precisely  accords  with 
Cusick's  statement  that  '  the  x^eople  of  the  great  Southern 
Empire  had  already  penetrated  to  Lake  Erie '  at  the  time  the 
war  began.  Of  course,  in  coming  to  the  Detroit  River  from 
the  region  north  of  Lake  Superior,  the  Algonquins  would  be 
advancing  from  the  west  to  the  east.  .  .  .  The  passage 
already  quoted  from  Cusick's  narrative  informs  us  that  the 
contest  lasted  perhaps  one  hundred  years.  In  close  agree 
ment  with  this  statement,  the  Delaware  record  makes  it  en- 
dure during  the  term  of  four  head  chiefs,  who  in  succession 
presided  in  the  Lenape  councils." 

The  passages  of  the  Delaware  record  which  refer  to  the 
Tallegwi,  as  translated  by  Dr.  Brinton,  are  as  follows. 


THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES.  17 

"  They  (the  Lenape)  separated  at  Fish  Eiver  (Nemassipi,  sometimes 
written  Mistissippi)  ;  the  lazy  ones  remained  there. 

Cabin-Man  was  chief;  the  Tallegwi  possessed  the  east. 

Strong--Friend  was  chief;  he  desired  the  eastern  land. 

Some  passed  on  east;  the  Talega  ruler  killed  some  of  them. 

All  say  in  unison,  '  War,  war !  ' 

The  Talamatin,  friends  from  the  north,  come  and  all  go  together. 

The  Sharp-One  was  chief;  he  was  the  pipe-bearer  beyond  the  river. 

They  rejoiced  greatly  that  they  should  fight  and  slay  the  Talega 
towns. 

The  Stirrer  was  chief;  the  Talega  towns  were  too  strong. 

The  Fire-Builder  was  chief;  they  all  gave  to  him  many  towns. 

The  Breaker-in-Pieces  was  chief;  all  the  Talega  go  south. 

He-has-Pleasure  was  chief;  all  the  people  rejoice. 

They  stay  south  of  the  lakes ;  the  Talamatin  friends  north  of  the 
lakes." 

Further  on,  and  referring*  to  a  later  period,  are  the  follow- 
ing verses : — 

"  14.  The  Rich-Down-River-]VIan  was  chief,  at  Talega  River. 

18.  Snow-Hunter  was  chief;  he  went  to  the  north  land. 

19.  Look-About  was  chief;  he  went  to  the  Talega  mountains. 

20.  East-Villager  was  chief;  he  was  east  of  Talega. 

40.  At  this  time  whites  came  on  the  Eastern  sea. 

42.  Well  Praised  was  chief;  he  fought  at  the  south. 

43.  He  fought  in  the  land  of  the  Talega  and  Koweta. 

45.  White-Horn  was  chief;  he  went  to  the  Talega, 

46.  To  the  Hilini,  to  the  Shawnees,  to  the  Kanawhas." 

The  reasons  for  identifying  the  Tallegwi  or  Talega  of  this 
tradition  with  the  Cherokees,  which  will  be  more  fully  re- 
ferred to  hereafter,  are  briefly  as  follows:  1st,  The  very- 
close  agreement  in  sound  between  Tsalake,  the  name  the 
Cherokees  gave  themselves,  and  Tallegivi  or  Talega  as  given 
in  the  tradition;  2d,  The  fact  that  the  traditions  of  the 
Cherokees  refer  to  the  region  of  the  Upper  Ohio  as  their 


18  THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES. 

former  home;  3d,  The  statement  of  Bishop  Ettwein  that  the 
last  of  the  Cherokees  were  driven  from  the  Upper  Ohio 
about  the  year  1700  (see  Brinton's  "  Lenape  and  their  Le- 
gends," p.  18);  4th,  The  testimony  of  the  mounds;  and, 
5th,  The  apparent  identification  of  the  two  peoples  in  the 
"  Walam  Olum"  itself  in  verses  42  and  43,  Part  V.,  where 
it  states  that 

"  Well-Praised  was  chief;  he  fought  at  the  south. 
He  fought  in  the  land  of  the  Talega  and  Koweta." 

As  this  part  of  the  record  refers  to  a  much  later  period 
than  that  heretofore  quoted,  a  date  subsequent  to  the  appear- 
ance of  the  whites  on  the  continent  (verse  40,  Part  V.), 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  it  alludes  to  the  Tallegwi  in  their 
southern  home,  to  which,  as  stated  in  verse  59,  Part  IV.. 
they  had  been  driven.  This  supposition  is  apparently  con- 
firmed by  the  fact  that  it  connects  with  them  the  Koweta,  or 
Creeks.  This,  together  with  the  statement  that  the  fighting 
was  at  the  south,  would  seem  to  imply  they  were  then  in 
their  mountain  home  or  historic  seat.  It  is  probable,  as 
will  be  shown  hereafter,  that  where  it  is  stated,  in  verses  19 
and  20, 

*'  Look- About  was  chief;  he  went  to  the  Talega  mountains; 
East-Villager  was  chief ;  he  was  east  of  Talega, ' ' 

their  position  in  the  Kanawha  valley  is  referred  to,  where, 
as  the  evidence  indicates,  they  halted  for  some  time  on  their 
way  south. 


CHAPTER  II. 

Having  thus  followed  back  the  chain  by  the  light  of  his- 
tory and  tradition,  we  turn  next  to  the  evidence  derived  from 
the  mounds. 

Although  it  cannot  be  stated  positively  that  no  tribe  ex- 
cept the  Cherokees  occupied  this  Appalachian  region  between 
1540  and  1690,  still  the  evidence  and  indicationr.  leading  to 
that  conclusion  are  so  strong  as  to  justify  us  in  assuming 
it  to  be  correct.  It  is  possible  that  clans  or  small  parties 
from  other  tribes  may  have  taken  up  their  abode  temporarily 
with  these  mountain  Indians;  but,  so  far  as  history  informs 
us  and  the  remains  indicate,  a  single  instance  of  the  kind 
only  is  known.  It  is  therefore  a  fair  presumption  that  such 
mounds  or  other  works  of  this  area,  not  constructed  by  the 
whites,  which  indicate  contact  with  European  civilization,  if 
there  be  any,  are  to  be  attributed  to  the  Cherokees. 

One  of  the  ancient  burial-places  in  Caldwell  County, 
N.C.,  explored  by  the  agents  of  the  United  States  Bureau  of 
Ethnology,  is  described  as  being  a  burial-pit  in  the  form  of 
a  triangle,  the  two  long  sides  48  feet  each,  and  the  southern 
base  32  feet,  in  which  the  bodies  and  accompanying  articles 
were  deposited  and  then  covered  over,  but  not  so  as  to  raise 
any  distinct  mound  above  the  natural  surface  of  the  ground, 

19 


20  THE   CHEROKEES  IN   PRE-COLUiVIBIA.N  TIMES. 

or,  if  so,  it  had  settled  to  the  level  of  the  latter.  The  depth 
of  the  original  excavation,  the  sides  of  which  could  be  dis 
tinctly  traced,  varied  from  two  and  a  half  to  three  feet.  In 
this  pit  were  twenty-seven  skeletons  arranged  as  follows: 
nine  lying  horizontally  on  their  backs  on  the  bottom  of  the 
pit,  with  nothing  over  them  except  the  dirt  (these  were 
buried  separately);  four  were  in  a  sitting  posture,  and  over 
each  a  small  beehive-shaped  vault  of  cobblestones;  four 
buried  two  and  two  in  vaults,  but  lying  horizontally  at  full 


FIG.  1. 


length;  and  ten  or  more  iu  one  group,  which,  from  their 
arrangement  in  regard  to  each  oti:ier,  the  explorers  believed 
must  have  been  interred  at  one  time,  the  skeleton  of  the 
principal  personage  of  the  group  resting  horizontally  on  his 
face  on  the  bottom  of  the  pit.  Under  the  head  of  this  skele- 
ton was  a  larg^engrav^ed  shell  gorget  shown  in  the  figure 
(Fig.  1).     Around  the   neck  were  a  number  of  large-sized 


THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES. 


31 


shell  beads,  probably  the  remains  of  a  necklace;  at  the  sides 
of  the  head,  near  the  ears,  five  elongate  copper  beads,  or 
rather  small  cylinders,  varying  in  length  from  one  and  a 
half  to  four  inches,  part  of  the  leather  thong  on  which  the 
smaller  ones  were  strung  yet  remaining  in  them.  These 
beads  were  made  of  thin  copper  cut  into  strips,  and  then 
rolled  up  so  as  to  bring  the  edges  together  on  one  side  in  a 
straight  line.  The  plate  out  of  which  they  were  made  was 
as  smooth  and  even  as  though  it  had  been  rolled.  Under 
the  breast  of  the  same  skeleton  was  also  a  piece  of  copper. 
The  arms  were  partially  extended,  the  hands  resting  about  a 
foot  from  the  head.     About  each  wrist  were  the  remains  of 


FIG.  2. 


a  bracelet  composed  of  alternate  beads  of  copper  and  shell. 
At  his  right  hand  were  four  iron  specimens  much  corroded, 
but  sutficiently  distinct  to  indicate  their  form  and  use.  One 
of  these  was  in  the  form  of  a  thin  celt;  another,  about  five 
inches  long,  is  apparently  part  of  the  blade  of  a  long  slender 
cutting  or  thrusting  implement  of  some  kind,  as  a  sword, 
dagger,  or  knife  (shown  in  Fig.  2) ;  another  is  part  of  a 
round  awl-shaped  implement,  a  small  part  of  the  bone  han- 
dle in  which  it  was  fixed  yet  remaining  attached  to  it.  A 
careful  analysis  of  the  iron  of  these  implements  has  been 
made  by  Professor  Clark  of  the  United  States  Geological 


22  THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBUN  TIMES. 

Survey,  who  decides  that  it  is  not  meteoric.  Under  the  left 
hand  of  the  same  skeleton  was  another  eograved  shell,  the 
concave  side  upward,  and  filled  with  shell  beads  of  various 
sizes. 

Around  and  over  the  skeleton  of  this  chief  personage,  with 
their  heads  near  his,  were  nine  other  skeletons.  Under  the 
heads  of  two  of  these  were  two  engraved  shells.  Scattered 
over  and  between  the  skeletons  of  this  group  were  numerous 
polished  celts,  discoidal  stones,  copper  arrow-points,  plates 
of  mica,  lumps  of  paint,  etc. 

That  these  iron  articles  cannot  be  attributed  to  an  intru- 
sive burial  is  evident  from  the  preceding  description.  They 
were  found  at  the  bottom  of  the  pit,  which  had  been  dug  be- 
fore depositing  the  bodies.  With  them  were  engraved 
shells,  polished  celts,  and  other  relics  of  this  character,  and 
all  were  deposited  with  the  principal  personage  who  had 
been  buried  in  the  mound.  There  were,  in  fact,  no  indica- 
tions whatever  of  intrusive  burials  here. 

As  it  is  conceded  that  neither  the  Indians  nor  the  more 
civilized  tribes  of  Mexico  and  Central  America  were  ac- 
quainted with  the  art  of  manufacturing  iron,  the  presence  of 
these  iron  articles  in  the  mound  indicates  contact  with  the 
civilization  of  the  Old  World.  Moreover,  a  careful  exami- 
nation of  the  copper  cylinders  will  probably  satisfy  any  one 
that  the  plate  of  which  they  were  made  had  been  rolled  or 
regularly  hammered  by  other  than  stone  implements,  and 
that  the  strips  had  been  cut  into  proper  shape  with  some  hard 
metallic  instrument.  It  is  reasonable,  therefore,  to  conclude 
that  this  burial-pit  was  dug,  and  the  bodies  deposited,  subse- 
quent to  the  discovery  of  America  by  Columbus,  and  in  all 
probability  after  the  date  of  De  Soto's  expedition.  As  the 
Cherokees  alone  inhabited  this  particular  section  from  the 
time  of  De  Soto's  expedition  until  it  was  settled  by  the 
whites,  it  is  more  than  probable  that  the  burials  were  made 
by  them. 


THE  CHER0KEE3  IN   PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES.  23 

This  is  an  im])ortaiit  step  in  tlio  attempt  to  trace  backward 
the  history  of  tills  tribe,  as  it  is  seemingly  the  link  which 
crosses  the  border-line  between  the  historic  and  prehistoric 
eras.  It  should  therefore  be  well  sustained  by  other  data 
before  being  used  as  a  basis  for  further  advance;  but  this  is 
not  wanting. 

On  the  same  farm  as  the  preceding  was  another  burial- 
place,  also  explored  by  the  agents  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnol- 
ogy, of  which  an  account  is  given  in  the  "Fifth  Annual 
Report."  In  this  case  we  have  a  true  mound,  although  of 
comparatively  little  height.  This  was  almost  a  true  circle  in 
outline,  thirty  eight  feet  in  diameter,  but  not  more  than  a 
foot  and  a  half  in  height  above  the  natural  surface  of  the 
ground.  Thorough  excavation,  however,  revealed  the  fact 
that  the  builders  of  the  mound  had  first  dug  a  circular  pit  of 
the  same  diameter,  with  perpendicular  margin,  to  the  depth 
of  three  feet,  on  the  bottom  of  which  they  deposited  their 
dead,  some  in  little  stone  vaults  and  some  without  any  stone 
enclosure,  and  covered  them  over  with  earth,  raising  the 
mound  above  the  pit. 

A  plan  of  the  pit,  showing  the  stone  vaults  and  skeletons 
after  the  removal  of  the  dirt,  is  given  in  Fig.  3.  The  bee- 
hive-shaped vaults  were  built  of  water-worn  bowlders,  with 
merely  sufficient  clay  to  hold  them  in  place. 

No.  1  indicates  a  stone  vault  standing  exactly  in  the  cen- 
tre of  the  pit.  In  this  case  a  small  circular  hole  a  little  over 
three  feet  in  diameter,  and  extending  down  three  feet  below 
the  bottom  of  the  pit,  had  been  dug,  the  body  or  skeleton 
placed  perpendicularly  upon  its  feet,  and  a  wall  built  up 
around  it,  converging,  after  a  height  of  four  feet  was  reached, 
so  as  to  be  covered  at  the  top  by  a  single  soapstone  slab  of 
moderate  size.  On  the  top  of  the  head  of  the  skeleton,  and 
immediately  under  the  capstone,  were  several  plates  of  silver 
mica,  which  had  evidently  been  cut  with  some  rude  imple- 
ment.    Although  the  bones  were  much  decayed,  yet  they 


24  THE   CHEROKEES   IN   PRE-COLUMBIAN   TIMES. 

were  retained  in  an  upright  position  by  the  dirt  which  filled 
the  vault, — an  indication  that  the  flesh  had  been  removed 
before  burial,  and  earth  packed  around  the  skeleton  as  the 
vault  was  built  up. 


Nos.  2,  3,  4,  5,  6,  7,  8,  9,  and  10  are  small  vaults,  each  cov 
ering  a  skeleton  placed  in  a  sitting  or  squatting  posture  on 


THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN   TIMES.  25 

the  bottom  of  the  pit.  Nos.  11,  12,  and  13  are  uncovered 
skeletons  in  a  squatting  posture.  Nos.  11  and  15  are  uncov- 
ered skeletons  lying  horizontally  on  the  bottom  of  the  pit. 
No.  16  is  an  unenclosed  squatting  skeleton  of  unusually  large 
size:  A,  a  quantity  of  black  paint  in  lumps;  and  B,  a  cubi- 
cal mass  of  water-worn  bowlders  built  up  solidly  and  regu- 
larly, twenty-four  inches  long,  eighteen  inches  wide,  and 
eighteen  inches  high,  but  with  no  bones,  specimens 
of  art,  coals,  ashes,  or  indications  of  fire  on  or  about  it. 
Many  of  the  stones  of  the  little  vaults  and  the  earth  imme- 
diately around  them,  on  the  contrary,  bore  unmistakable 
evidences  of  fire;  in  fact,  the  heat  in  some  cases  had  been  so 
intense  as  to  leave  its  mark  on  the  bones  of  the  enclosed 
skeletons, — another  indication  that  the  flesh  had  been  re- 
moved before  burial. 

The  only  relic  found  deserving  notice  here  was  a  soap- 
stone  pipe  near  the  mouth  of  No.  16. 

The  proximity  of  this  mound  to  the  Triangle,  the  occur- 
rence of  the  pit,  and  the  similarity  in  the  modes  of  burial, 
are  sufficient  to  justify  us  in  attributing  them  to  one  and  the 
same  people.  Two  hundred  yards  east  of  the  Triangle  was 
another  low  mound,  covering  a  circular  pit  similar  to  that 
described.  In  this  were  twenty-five  skeletons  and  one  stone 
heap.  Some  of  the  skeletons  were  in  a  sitting  posture,  cov- 
ered with  stone  vaults,  others  unenclosed.  Some  were 
stretched  horizontally  on  the  bottom  of  the  pit,  unenclosed. 
Four  of  the  latter  were  lying  together,  with  large  stones 
resting  on  their  legs  below  the  knees. 

In  a  different  part  of  the  same  county,  another  similar 
circular  burial-pit  was  explored,  in  which,  besides  the  sepa- 
rate sitting  and  horizontal  skeletons,  there  was  a  kind  of 
communal  grave  similar  to  that  in  the  Triangle.  As  there 
can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that  all  these  are  the  burial- 
places  of  one  tribe,  and  there  are  no  indications  of  intrusive 
burials,  it  is  legitimate  to  consider  them  together,  and  to 


36  THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES. 

draw  inferences  in  regard  to  the  customs  of  the  authors  from 
what  is  found  in  any  one. 

Referring  to  the  account  given  in  the  "Fifth  Annual  Re- 
port of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology,"  it  is  seen  that  the  following 
articles  were  found  huried  with  the  skeletons  of  the  last- 
mentioned  pit  alone:  one  stone  axe;  forty-three  polished 
celts;  nine  vessels  of  clay,  including  four  pots  and  two  food- 
cups,  the  handle  of  one  representing  an  owl's  head,  and  that 
of  the  other  an  eagle's  head;  thirty-two  arrow-heads;  twenty 
soapstone  pipes,  mostly  uninjured;  twelve  discoidal  stones; 
ten  rubbing-stones;  one  broken  soapstone  vessel;  six  en- 
graved shells,  some  of  the  designs  on  them  like  that  shown 
in  Fig.  1;  four  shell  gorgets;  one  sea-shell  {Busy con  per ver- 
sum)  entire,  and  two  or  three  broken  ones;  five  very  large 
copperheads;  a  lot  of  shell  fragments,  some  of  them  en 
graved ;  a  few  rude  shell  pins  made  from  the  columellce  of 
sea-univalves ;  shell  beads  and  a  few  small  copper  beads. 

It  is  evident,  from  the  mode  of  burial  and  the  articles 
found,  that  these  works  cannot  be  attributed  to  white  men 
of  post-Columbian  times.  Can  they  be  attributed  to  the 
Indians  found  inhabiting  this  region  at  the  time  of  the  ad- 
vent of  the  whites?  If  the  evidence  justifies  this  conclusion, 
we  may  then  attribute  them  without  hesitancy  to  the  Chero- 
kees. 

Lawson,  who  travelled  through  North  Carolina  in  1700, 
states  that  "the  Indians  oftentimes  make  of  a  certain  large 
sea-shell  a  sort  of  gorge,  which  they  wear  about  their  neck 
in  a  string,  so  it  hangs  on  their  collar,  whereon  is  sometimes 
engraven  a  cross  or  some  odd  sort  of  figure  which  comes  next 
in  their  fancy."  Beverly,  in  his  "History  of  Virginia," 
evidently  alluding  to  the  same  custom,  says,  "Of  this  shell 
[the  conch]  they  also  make  round  tablets  of  about  four  inches 
in  diameter,  which  they  polish  as  smooth  as  the  other,  and 
sometimes  they  etch  or  grave  thereon  circles,  stars,  a  half- 
moon,  or  any  other  figure  suitable  to  their  fancy."     Adair 


THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES. 


27 


states,  in  his  "History  of  the  American  Indians,"  that  the 
priest  wears  a  breastplate  made  of  a  white  conch-shell,  with 
two  holes  bored  in  the  middle  of  it,  through  which  he  puts 
the  ends  of  an  otter-skin  strap,  and  fastens  a  buck-horn  white 
button  to  the  outside  of  each. 

Here,  then,  is  evidence  of  a  custom  among  the  Indians 
precisely  similar  to  that  which  prevailed  among  the  mound- 
builders  of  the  region  to  which  reference  has  been  made. 
Nor  does  the  comparison  stop  with  the  general  resemblance 


FIG.  4. 


in  customs;  for  among  the  shells  found  in  the  burial- 
mounds  mentioned  was  one  with  a  cross  engraved  upon  it, 
and  on  others  were  engraved  figures  that  might  be  readily 
taken  for  stars  and  half-moons  (Fig.  4).  Moreover,  while 
some  are  "engraved,"  others  are  "smooth,"  without  any  de- 
vices upon  them ;  and  all  are  pierced  with  holes  for  inserting 
strings  by  which  to  hang  them  about  the  neck.     They  are 


28  THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES. 

usually  made  from  Busycon  perversum,  which  is  designated 
in  common  parlance  a  "conch." 

That  shells  of  this  kind,  bearing  precisely  similar  engraved 
designs,  were  in  use  among  the  veritable  mound-builders,  is 
proven  by  the  fact  that  they  have  been  found  in  mounds 
of  some  of  the  most  important  groups  of  Georgia,  Ten- 
nessee, and  elsewhere.  This  fact  is  sufficient  of  itself  to 
show  that  the  North  Carolina  burial-places  alluded  to  belong 
to  the  mound-building  age.  If  these  shell  ornaments  are  the 
work  of  Indians,  as  appears  from  the  statements  of  the 
above-named  writers,  they  must  have  been  used  by  the 
Cherokees,  and  buried  with  their  dead. 

The  author  last  above  quoted  says,  that  at  the  fall  of  the  leaf 
the  Indians  gather  hickory-nuts,  "which  they  pound  with  a 
round  stone,  upon  a  stone,  thick  and  hollowed  for  the  pur- 
pose." Quite  a  number  of  precisely  such  stones  as  here 
mentioned,  "thick  and  hollowed"  at  the  ends,  were  found  in 
the  mounds  of  Caldwell  County,  N.C.  All  who  examined 
them  ascribed  them,  without  hesitancy,  to  the  use  mentioned 
by  Adair. 

Another  fact  not  mentioned  in  the  preceding  description 
of  these  mounds  and  burial-places  is,  that  in  one, — the  circu- 
lar pit, — mixed  with  those  having  heads  of  the  ordinary 
form,  were  some  eight  or  ten  skeletons  with  heads  of  elon- 
gate form,  due  to  artificial  pressure. 

This  furnishes  strong  evidence  that  the  people  who  buried 
here  were  Indians.  It  is  true,  it  was  not  a  custom  of  the 
Cherokees  to  compress  the  head,  but  it  was  of  their  neigh- 
bors and  hereditary  foes,  the  Catawbas  As  this  is  the  only 
instance  of  skulls  of  that  form  being  found  in  the  mounds 
of  this  section,  it  is  possible  they  were  captives  from  that 
tribe;  but  why  buried  here,  unless  they  had  been  adopted  by 
the  Cherokees,  is  a  question  difficult  to  answer. 

In  the  mounds  and  burial-places  mentioned  were  also  found 
a  large  number  of  nicely  carved  soapstone  pipes,  usually 


THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES. 


29 


with  the  stem  made  in  connection  with  the  bowl,  though 
some  of  them  are  without  this  addition,  consisting  only  of 
the  howl,  with  a  hole  for  the  insertion  of  a  cane  or  wooden 
stem. 


FIG.  5. 


By  turning  to  Adair's  "History  of  the  American  Indians," 
we  find  this  statement:  "They  [the  Indians]  make  beautiful 
stone  pipes,  and  the  Cherokees  the  best  of  any  of  the  In- 
dians, for  their  mountainous  country  contains  many  differ- 


FIG. 


ent  sorts  and  colors  of  soils  proper  for  such  uses„  They 
easily  form  them  with  their  tomahawks,  and  afterwards  fin- 
ish them  in  any  desired  form  with  their  knives;  the  pipes 


80  THE  CHEROKEES  IN   PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES. 

used  with  the  fire,  when  they  become  quite  hard.  They  are 
often  a  full  span  long,  and  the  bowls  are  about  half  as  long 
again  as  those  of  our  English  pipes.  The  fore-part  of  each 
commonly  runs  out  with  a  sharp  peak  two  or  three  fingers 
broad  and  a  quarter  of  an  inch  thick." 

Not  only  were  pipes  made  of  soapstone  found  with  the 
stem  carved  in  connection  with  them,  as  indicated  in  the 
above  quotation,  but  two  or  three  were  obtained  of  precisely 
the  form  mentioned  by  Adair,  with  the  fore-part  running  out 
in  front  of  the  bowl ;  and  others  of  the  same  form  have  been 
found  in  West  Virginia,  Ohio,  and  elsewhere.  Some  of  the 
forms,  including  one  from  a  mound  in  Sullivan  County, 
East  Tenn.,  are  shown  in  Figs.  5  and  6.  As  will  be  seen, 
one  of  these,  of  which  numerous  examples  were  found,  has 
a  very  modern  appearance, — a  form  which  was  first  adopted 
in  England  in  the  time  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  It  may  be  re- 
marked, in  passing,  that  the  mound  in  Sullivan  County, 
Tenn.  (shown  in  Fig.  37,  ''Fifth  Annual  Eeport  of  the  Bu- 
reau of  Ethnology"),  belongs  to  the  same  type  as  that  of 
Caldwell  County,  N.C.  Here,  however,  instead  of  a  pit,  a 
circular  wall  some  three  or  four  feet  high  is  built  on  the 
natural  surface  of  the  ground,  and  the  bodies  or  skeletons 
are  seated  in  regular  order  on  this  natural  surface,  after 
charcoal  and  ashes  have  been  strewn  over  it,  and  over  each 
a  little  vault  built. 

Haywood,  in  his  "Natural  and  Aboriginal  History  of 
Tennessee,"  says,  "Mr.  Brown,  a  Scotchman,  came  into  the 
Cherokee  nation  in  the  year  1761,  and  settled  on  the  Hia- 
wassee  River  or  near  it.  He  saw  on  the  Hiawassee  and  Ten- 
nessee the  remains  of  old  forts,  about  which  were  axes,  guns, 
hoes,  and  other  metallic  utensils.  The  Indians  at  that  time 
told  him  that  the  French  had  formerly  been  there  and  built 
these  forts." 

During  the  year  1883  one  of  the  assistants  of  the  Bureau 
of  Ethnology  explored  this  particular  section  which  Hay- 


THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES.  31 

wood  refers  to.  An  overflow  and  a  change  in  the  channel 
of  the  river  brought  to  light  the  remains  of  old  habitations 
and  numerous  relics  of  the  people  who  formerly  dwelt  there. 
Moreover,  this  was  in  the  precise  locality  where  tradition 
and  the  statement  of  the  Cherokees  located  a  Cherokee  town. 
Digging  was  resorted  to  in  order  to  complete  the  exposure 
which  the  water  had  begun.  The  only  object  in  view  in  re- 
ferring to  this  exploration  is  to  note  some  of  the  articles 
found:  ten  discoidal  stones  precisely  like  those  from  the 
mounds  of  Caldwell  County,  N.C. ;  nine  strings  of  glass 
beads;  a  number  of  shell  beads  exactly  like  those  from  the 
mounds;  a  number  of  flint  arrow-points;  one  soapstone 
pipe;  some  pieces  of  smooth  sheet  copper;  three  conical 
copper  ear  pendants  precisely  of  the  pattern  of  some  found 
in  one  of  the  Carolina  mounds ;  three  buttons  of  modem  type ; 
one  small  brass  gouge ;  fragments  of  iron  articles  belonging 
to  a  bridle ;  one  bronze  sleigh-bell ;  one  stone  awl  or  drill ; 
fragments  of  a  soapstone  pot;  one  soapstone  gorget;  several 
polished  stone  celts  similar  to  those  found  in  the  Carolina 
mounds;  grooved  stone  axes;  a  piece  of  sheet  lead. 

This  admixture  of  articles  of  civilized  and  savage  life  con- 
firms the  statement  made  by  Haywood,  at  least  so  far  as  re- 
gards the  early  presence  of  white  people  in  this  section.  It 
follows,  from  what  has  been  presented,  that  the  Indians  liv- 
ing here  after  the  appearance  of  the  whites  must  have  been 
Cherokees;  and  the  fact  that  the  implements  and  ornaments 
of  aboriginal  manufacture  found  here  are  throughout  pre- 
cisely like  those  obtained  from  the  mounds  mentioned,  af- 
fords a  very  strong  proof  that  the  latter  are  to  be  attributed 
to  the  same  people. 

Additional  and  perhaps  stronger  evidence,  if  stronger  be 
needed,  that  the  people  of  this  tribe  were  the  authors  of  most 
of  the  ancient  works  in  western  North  Carolina  and  East 
Tennessee,  is  to  be  found  in  certain  discoveries  made  by  the 
Bureau  assistants  in  Monroe  County,  Tenn. 


33  THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES. 

A  careful  exploration  of  the  valley  of  the  Little  Tennes- 
see River  from  the  point  where  it  leaves  the  mountain  to  its 
confluence  with  the  Holston  was  made,  and  the  various 
mound  groups  located  and  carefully  surveyed. 

Here,  on  the  exact  sites  of  the  "Over-hill  towns,"  as  shown 
by  Henry  Timberlake's  map  of  1765,  using  the  map  of  the 
same  region  by  the  Geological  Survey  as  a  mears  of  com- 
parison, were  found  mound  groups ;  not  in  a  general  sense 
only,  but  in  the  order  given  and  at  the  points  indicated,  a 
group  for  each  town,  and  in  the  only  habitable  spots  the  valley, 
for  this  distance,  affords.  Commencing  with  the  large  island 
immediately  below  the  mouth  of  Tellico  River  at  the  west 
end  of  Timberlake's  map,  we  see  the  town  of  Mialoqua,  part- 
ly on  the  island,  and  partly  on  the  south  bank.  Referring 
to  the  Bureau  map,  which  will  appear  in  the  general  report 
of  mound  explorations,  we  see  that  the  mounds  are  also 
partly  on  the  island,  and  partly  on  the  south  bank.  On  the 
latter  map,  group  No.  2  corresponds  with  "Toskegee"  of 
Timberlake's  map;  No.  3,  with  "Tommotley;"  No.  4,  with 
"Toqua;"  No.  5,  with  "Tennessee;"  No.  6,  with  "Chote;" 
No.  7,  with  "Settacoo;"  No.  8,  with  "Half-way  Town;"  No. 
9,  with  "Chilhowey;"  and  No.  10,  with  "Tellassee."  Such 
remarkable  coincidence  cannot  be  attributed  to  mere  chance. 
There  is  also  the  additional  fact  that  the  evidences  of  village 
sites  which  must  have  been  left  by  the  Cherokee  towns  were 
found  only  about  the  groups,  though  careful  search  was 
made  by  the  Bureau  agents  along  the  valley. 

As  these  mounds,  when  explored,  yielded  precisely  the  kind 
of  ornaments  and  implements  used  by  the  Cherokees,  it  is 
reasonable  to  believe  they  built  them. 

Ramsey  also  gives  a  map  of  the  Cherokee  towns  in  his 
"Annals  of  Tennessee;"  but  his  list,  although  corresponding, 
so  far  as  it  goes,  with  the  order  given  by  Timberlake,  evi- 
dently refers  to  a  date  corresponding  with  the  close  of  their 
occupancy  of  this  section.     Bar  tram  gives  a  more  complete 


THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUaiBIAN  TIMES.  33 

list.  This  includes  some  towns  on  the  Holston  (his  ''Chero- 
kee") River  and  some  on  the  Tellico  Plains,  the  localities 
corresponding"  with  mound  groups  discovered  hy  the  Bureau 
agents.  For  example:  some  three  or  four  groups  are  in  the 
region  of  the  Tellico  Plains,  and  five  or  six  on  the  Little 
Tennessee  below  Fort  Loudon,  and  on  the  Holston  near  the 
junction  of  the  two.  One  large  mound  and  a  group  were 
discovered  on  the  "Big  Island"  mentioned  by  Bartram,  on 
which  he  locates  a  town,  but  fails  to  give  the  name. 

The  largest  of  these  groups  is  situated  on  the  Little  Ten- 
nessee above  Fort  Loudon,  and  corresponds  with  the  position 
of  the  ancient  "Beloved  town  of  Chota"  ("Great  Chote"  of 
Bartram)  as  located  by  tradition  and  Timberlake's  map. 
According  to  Ramsey,  at  the  time  the  pioneers,  following 
in  the  wake  of  Daniel  Boone  near  the  close  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  were  pouring  over  the  mountains  into  the  valley  of 
the  Watauga,  a  Mrs.  Bean,  who  was  captured  by  the  Chero- 
kees  near  Watauga,  was  brought  to  their  town  at  this  place, 
bound,  and  taken  to  the  "  top  of  a  mound  "  to  be  burned, 
when  Nancy  Ward,  then  exercising  in  the  nation  the  func- 
tions of  tlie  "beloved  "or  "  pretty  woman,"  interfered,  and 
pronounced  her  pardon.  Ramsey  does  not  give  his  authority 
for  this  statement,  but,  in  all  probability,  obtained  the  in- 
formation from  the  descendants  of  Mrs.  Bean,  who,  as  the 
writer  knows,  were  residing  in  Hawkins  County  as  late  as 
1850,  and  probably  at  the  present  time.  "  Nancy  Ward  " 
probably  received  her  English  name  from  some  white  family 
that  resided  for  a  time  in  that  section. 

During  the  explorations  of  the  mounds  of  this  region  by 
the  Bureau  agents,  a  peculiar  type  of  clay  beds  was  found  in 
several  of  the  larger  tumuli.  These  were  always  saucer- 
shaped,  varying  in  diameter  from  six  to  fifteen  feet  and  in 
thickness  from  four  to  twelve  inches.  In  nearly  every  in- 
stance there  was  a  series  one  above  another,  with  a  layer  of 
coals  and  ashes  between.     A  series  usually  consisted  of  from 


34  THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES. 

three  to  five  beds,  sometimes  only  two.  decreasing  in  diam- 
eter from  the  lowest  one  upwards.  These  apparently  marked 
the  stages  of  the  growth  of  the  mound,  the  upper  one  always 
being  near  the  surface. 

The  large  mound  on  the  supposed  site  of  Chota,  and  pos- 
sibly the  one  on  which  Mrs.  Bean  was  about  to  be  burned, 
was  thoroughly  explored,  and  found  to  contain  a  series  of 
these  clay  beds,  which  always  show  the  action  of  fire.  In 
the  centre  of  some  of  these  were  found  the  charred  remains 
of  a  stake,  and  about  them  the  usual  layer  of  coals  and 
ashes;  but  in  this  instance  immediately  around  where  the 
stake  stood  were  the  charred  fragments  of  human  bones. 
There  may  be  no  connection  between  this  fact  and  Ramsey's 
statement,  yet  the  coincidence  is  suggestive. 

The  burials  in  this  mound,  which  was  a  large  one,  some 
twelve  feet  high,  were  at  various  depths,  from  two  and  a 
half  to  nine  feet,  and,  although  the  series  of  clay  beds  indi- 
cated growth,  there  was  nothing  to  indicate  separate  and 
distinct  periods,  or  to  lead  to  the  belief  that  any  of  these 
were  intrusive.  On  the  contrary,  the  evidence  is  pretty  clear 
that  all  these  burials  were  by  one  tribe  or  people.  It  is  be- 
lieved that  no  satisfactory  evidence  of  intrusive  burials  has 
been  discovered  in  this  entire  Appalachian  region.  By  the 
side  of  nearly  every  skeleton  in  this  mound  were  one  or 
more  articles,  as  shell  masks,  engraved  shells  similar  to 
those  heretofore  mentioned,  shell  pins,  shell  beads,  perforated 
shells,  discoidal  stones,  polished  celts,  arrow-heads,  spear- 
heads, stone  gorgets,  bone  implements,  clay  vessels,  and 
copper  hawk-bells.  The  last-named  articles  were  with  the 
skeleton  of  a  child  found  at  the  depth  of  three  feet  and  a 
half.  They  are  precisely  of  the  form  of  the  ordinary  sleigh- 
bell  of  the  present  day,  but  with  pebbles  and  shell  beads  for 
rattles. 

That  this  child  belonged  to  the  people  by  whom  the  other 
burials,  some  of  which  were  at  less  depth,  were  made,  there 


THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES.  35 

is  no  reason  to  doubt;  and  that  the  bells  indicate  contact 
with  Europeans  must  be  conceded. 

In  another  mound  a  little  farther  up  the  river,  one  of  a 
group  marking  the  site  of  one  of  the  "  Over-hill  towns,"  were 
discovered  two  carved  stone  pipes  of  a  comparatively  mod- 
ern Cherokee  type. 

Duriug  the  fall  of  1888,  a  farmer  of  East  Tennessee,  while 
examining  a  cave  with  a  view  of  storing  potatoes  in  it  dur- 
ing the  winter,  unearthed  a  well-preserved  human  skeleton, 
which  was  wrapped  in  a  large  piece  of  cane  matting.  This, 
which  measures  about  six  by  four  feet,  is  quite  pliant,  and, 
with  the  exception  of  a  rent  in  the  corner,  perfectly  sound. 
It  has  a  broad,  submarginal  stripe  of  red  running  around 
it.  Enclosed  with  the  skeleton  was  a  piece  of  cloth  made  of 
flax,  about  fourteen  by  twenty  inches,  almost  uninjured, 
pliant,  but  apparently  unfinished.  The  stitch  in  which  it  is 
woven  is  precisely  the  same  as  that  imprinted  on  pottery 
shown  in  Fig.  96  in  Mr.  Holmes's  paper  on  "Mound  Builders' 
Textile  Fabrics"  ("Third  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of 
Ethnology").  Although  the  earth  in  the  cave  contains 
salts  which  would  aid  in  preserving  any  thing  buried  in  it, 
these  articles  cannot  be  assigned  to  any  very  ancient  date, 
especially  a?  there  were  with  them  the  remains  of  a  dog 
from  which  the  skin  had  not  all  rotted  away.  These  were 
in  all  probability  placed  here  by  the  Cherokees  of  modern 
times,  and  form  a  link  between  the  historic  and  prehistoric 
times  not  easily  broken. 

Another  important  find  was  made  in  this  locality  by  one 
of  the  Bureau  agents  in  1889.  This  is  a  small  stone  on 
which  some  characters  have  been  rudely  etched,  and  is 
shown  in  Fig.  7,  on  the  next  page.  An  examination  by  those 
familiar  with  the  subject  will  probably  soon  satisfy  them 
that  some  of  the  characters,  if  not  all,  are  letters  of  the 
Cherokee  alphabet.  As  the  presence  of  the  stone  in  the 
mound  cannot  be  attributed  to  an  intrusive  burial,  it  is  evi- 


36  THE  CHEROKEES  IN   PRE-COLUMBIAN   TIMES. 

dent  that  the  mound  must  have  been  built  since  1820,  that 
Mr.  Guess  was  not  the  author  of  the  Cherokee  alphabet,  or 
that  the  stone  is  a  fraud.  The  mound  in  which  this  was 
found  is  described  as  follows: — 

"  The  Tipton  group  is  situated  on  the  north  side  of  the 
Little  Tennessee,  about  two  miles  from  Morganton.  No.  3 
of  this  group,  which  stands  about  one  hundred  feet  from  No. 
2,  is  of  small  size,  measuriog  twenty-eight  feet  in  diameter 
and  about  five  feet  in  height.  Some  large  trees,"  says  Mr. 
Emmert,  the  Bureau  agent,  "  were  standing  on  the  mound, 
and  Mr.  Tipton  informed  me  that  he  had  cut  other  trees  off 
of  it  forty  years  ago,  and   that  it  had  been  a  cluster  of  trees 


FIG.  7. 


and  grape-vines  as  far  back  as  the  oldest  settler  could  recol- 
lect. There  was  an  old  stump  yet  in  the  centre,  the  roots  of 
which  ran  down  in  the  mound  almost  or  quite  to  where  the 
skeletons  were  found.  .  .  .  Having  worked  to  the  bot- 
tom, I  found  here  nine  skeletons  lying  at  full  length  on  the 
natural  surface,  with  faces  up,  and  surrounded  by  dark- 
colored  earth.  No.  1  (as  shown  in  the  diagram  which 
accompanies  his  report)  was  lying  with  head  to  the  south ; 
while  No.  2,  close  by  the  side  of  it,  had  the  head  to  the  north, 
and  feet  almost  touching  the  head  of  the  other.     On  the 


THE   CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUSFBIAN  TIMES.  37 

same  level,  but  apart  from  the  preceding,  were  seven  other 
skeletons  lying  closely  side  by  side,  heads  all  to  the  north, 
and  all  in  a  line.  No  relics  of  any  kind  were  found  with 
any  of  the  skeletons  except  No.  1.  Immediately  under  the 
skull  and  jaw-bones  were  two  copper  bracelets,  an  engraved 
stone  (Fig.  7),  a  small  drilled  stone,  a  single  copper  bead,  a 
bone  instrument,  and  some  small  pieces  of  polished  wood. 
The  earth  about  the  skeletons  was  w^et,  and  the  pieces  of 
wood  were  soft  and  colored  green  by  contact  with  the  copper 
bracelets.  These  bracelets  had  been  rolled  up  in  something 
which  crumbled  off  when  they  were  taken  out,  but  whether 
buckskin  or  bark  I  was  unable  to  decide.  The  engraved 
stone  was  lying  partially  under  the  skull.  I  punched  it 
with  my  steel  prod  on  the  rough  side  in  probing,  before  I 
reached  the  skeletons." 

As  soon  as  the  collections  made  by  Mr.  Emmert  during 
this  exploration  were  received  at  the  office  in  "Washington, 
a  member  of  the  Bureau  was  sent  to  the  field  where  Mr. 
Emmert  was  at  work,  to  learn  the  whole  history  of  the  find. 
This  course  was  taken  by  the  Bureau  merely  as  a  means  of 
being  fortified  with  all  possible  evidence  as  to  the  facts  of 
the  find  being  as  stated.  The  examination  by  the  person 
sent  confirmed  the  statement  by  Mr.  Emmert  in  every  par- 
ticular. This,  therefore,  necessitates  one  of  two  conclu- 
sions,— that  the  mound  was  thrown  up  since  1820,  or  that 
some  one  was  at  work  on  the  Cherokee  alphabet  before  Mr. 
Guess's  time.  But  this  is  a  question  which  has  no  bearing 
on  the  present  discussion. 


CHAPTEE  III. 

What  has  been  presented  is  probably  sufficient  to  convince 
any  unbiassed  mind  that  the  Cherokees  were  mound-builders, 
nevertheless  tliere  is  other  evidence  of  a  more  general  char- 
acter which  serves  to  show  that  the  builders  of  the  East  Ten- 
nessee and  North  Carolina  mounds  were  contemporaneous 
with  the  authors  of  the  works  of  other  sections. 

Proof  that  in  general  the  mound-builders  were  Indians 
would,  as  a  matter  of  course,  have  a  strong  bearing  on  the 
case  under  discussion,  but  this  would  require  too  much  space 
to  be  introduced  here.  The  following  extracts  from  Major 
J.  W.  Powell's  article  on  "Prehistoric  Man  in  America,"  in 
the  Forum  of  January,  1890,  will  give  what  is  now  becom- 
ing the  settled  conclusion  of  most  of  the  leading  archaeolo- 
gists of  the  present  day: — 

"The  research  of  the  past  ten  or  fifteen  years  has  put  this 
subject  in  a  proper  light.  First,  the  annals  of  the  Colum- 
bian epoch  have  been  carefully  studied,  and  it  is  found  that 
some  of  the  mounds  have  been  constructed  in  historical 
time,  while  early  explorers  and  settlers  found  many  actually 
used  by  tribes  of  North  American  Indians:  so  we  know 
many  of  them  were  builders  of  mounds.     Again,  hundreds 

38 


THE  CHEROKEES  EN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES.  39 

and  thousands  of  these  mounds  have  been  carefully  exam- 
ined, and  the  works  of  art  found  therein  have  been  collected 
and  assembled  in  museums.  At  the  same  time,  the  works 
of  art  of  the  Indian  tribes,  as  they  were  produced  before 
modification  by  European  culture,  have  been  assembled  in 
the  same  museums,  and  the  classes  of  collections  have  been 
carefully  compared.  All  this  has  been  done  with  the  great- 
est painstaking,  and  the  mound-builders'  arts  and  the  In- 
dians' arts  are  found  to  be  substantially  identical.  No  frag- 
ment of  evidence  remains  to  support  the  figment  of  theory 
that  there  was  an  ancient  race  of  mound-builders  superior  in 
culture  to  the  North  American  Indians.  ...  It  is  enough 
to  say  that  the  mound-builders  were  the  Indian  tribes  dis- 
covered by  white  men." 

Once  it  is  admitted  that  the  mound-builders  were  Indians, 
it  requires  much  less  proof  to  carry  conviction  that  a  partic- 
ular tribe  was  accustomed  to  erect  such  structures.  There 
are,  however,  two  facts  which  seem  to  carry  back  the  Cher- 
okees  to  the  mound-building  age,  even  independently  of  this 
general  argument. 

The  first  of  these  to  which  attention  is  called  is  that  af- 
forded by  a  certain  class  of  stone  graves  or  cists  found  in 
great  numbers  in  some  sections.  These  cists,  usually  desig- 
nated "box-shaped  stone  graves,"  are  formed  of  rough  un- 
hewn slabs  or  flat  pieces  of  stone,  thus :  first,  in  a  pit  some 
two  or  three  feet  deep  and  of  the  desired  dimensions,  dug 
for  the  purpose,  a  layer  is  placed  to  form  the  floor;  next, 
similar  pieces  are  set  on  edge  for  the  sides  and  ends,  over 
which  other  slabs  are  laid  flat,  forming  the  covering;  the 
whole,  when  finished,  making  a  rude  box-shaped  coffin  or 
sepulchre.  Sometimes  one  or  more  of  the  six  faces  are 
wanting;  occasionally  the  bottom  consists  of  a  layer  of 
water-worn  bowlders;  sometimes  the  top  is  not  a  single 
layer,  but  other  pieces  are  laid  over  the  joints;  and  some- 
times they  are  placed  in  the  fashion  of  shingles.     They  vary 


40  THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES. 

in  length  from  fourteen  inches  to  eight  feet,  and  in  width 
from  nine  inches  to  three  feet. 

Now,  it  happens  that  quite  a  number  of  graves  of  this  par- 
ticular type  are  found  on  the  site  of  one  of  the  "Over-hill 
towns"  heretofore  mentioned,  and  others  are  scattered  over 
parts  of  the  Cherokee  district.  As  the  location  of  those 
about  the  village  site  is  such  as  to  justify  the  belief  that 
they  were  contemporaneous  with  the  existence  of  the  village, 
we  must  conclude  that  the  authors  of  the  graves  of  this  type, 
and  the  Cherokees,  were  contemporaneous.  Additional  proof 
of  this  is  found  in  the  seemingly  conclusive  evidence,  which 
is  too  lengthy  to  be  introduced  here,  that  the  graves  of  this 
form  found  south  of  the  Ohio  are  due  to  the  Shawnees. 
The  well-known  fact  that  the  Cherokees  and  Shawnees  were 
long  hereditary  and  bitter  foes,  almost  constantly  at  war 
with  each  other,  would  seem  to  forbid  the  above  supposition 
that  a  Shawnee  colony  was  living  in  connection  with  a 
Cherokee  village;  yet  the  following  historical  items  furnish 
a  satisfactory  explanation. 

Haywood,  in  his  "Natural  and  Aboriginal  History  of 
Tennessee,"  gives  the  following  statement  by  Gen.  Eobert- 
son:  *'In  1772  the  Little  Corn-Planter,  an  intelligent  Chero- 
kee chief  who  was  then  supposed  to  be  ninety  years  of  age, 
stated,  in  giving  a  history  of  his  own  nation,  that  the  Sa- 
vannechers,  which  was  the  name  universally  given  by  the 
Indians  to  those  whom  the  English  call  Shawnees,  removed 
from  Savannah  Eiver,  between  Georgia  and  South  Carolina, 
by  permission  of  the  Cherokees,  to  Cumberland,  they  having 
been  attacked  and  almost  ruined  by  a  combination  of  several 
of  the  neighboring  tribes  of  Indians;  that  many  years  after- 
wards a  difference  took  place  between  the  two  nations,  and 
the  Cherokees,  unexpectedly  to  the  Shawnees,  marched  in  a 
large  body  to  the  frontier  of  the  latter." 

There  is,  however,  another  item  of  evidence  directly  in 
point  found  in  the  following    statement   in   Schoolcraft's 


THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES.  41 

"History  of  the  Indian  Tribes:"  "A  discontented  portion  of 
the  Shawnee  tribe  from  Virginia  broke  off  from  the  nation 
which  removed  to  the  Scioto  country  in  Ohio  about  the  year 
1730,  and  formed  a  town  known  by  the  name  of  'Lulbegrud' 
in  what  is  now  Clark  County  (Kentucky),  about  thirty  miles 
east  of  this  place  (Lexington).  This  tribe  left  this  country 
about  1750,  and  went  to  East  Tennessee,  to  the  Cherokee  na- 
tion." It  is  very  probable  that  the  stone  graves  about  the 
site  of  the  "  Over-hill  town  "  are  due  to  this  band. 

The  importance  and  bearing  of  this  evidence  in  the  present 
connection  lie  in  the  fact  that  numbers  of  graves  of  this  type 
are  found  in  mounds,  some  of  which  are  of  comparatively 
large  size,  and  connected  with  works  which  no  one  hesitates  to 
attribute  to  the  true  mound-building  age.  Sometimes  they  are 
arranged  in  these  tumuli  in  two,  three,  and  even  four  tiers. 
Not  only  are  they  found  in  mounds  of  considerable  size,  but 
they  are  also  connected  with  one  of  the  most  noted  groups 
in  the  United  States;  namely,  the  one  on  Col.  Tumlin's 
place,  near  Carters ville,  Ga.,  known  as  the  "Etowah 
mounds,"  of  which  a  full  description  will  be  found  in  the 
"Fifth  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology"  and  in 
Jones's  "History  of  the  Southern  Indians."  In  the  smallest 
of  the  three  large  mounds  of  this  group  were  found  stone 
graves  precisely  of  the  type  described ;  not  in  a  situation 
where  they  could  be  attributed  to  intrusive  burial,  but  in  the 
bottom  layer  of  a  mound  some  thirteen  or  fourteen  feet  high, 
with  an  undisturbed  layer,  two  feet  thick,  of  hard-packed 
clay  above  them.  In  them  were  found  the  remarkable 
figured  copper  plates  and  engraved  shells  which  are  described 
by  the  writer  in  the  "Fifth  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of 
Ethnology,"  also  in  Science.  In  singular  corroboration  of 
the  idea  here  advanced,  the  only  other  similar  copper  plates 
were  found  in  a  stone  grave  at  Lebanon,  Tenu. ;  in  a  stone- 
grave  mound  at  Mill  Creek,  southern  Illinois;  in  a  stone 
grave  in  Jackson   County,  111. ;    in  a  mound   of    Madison 


43  THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES. 

County,  111. ;  and  in  a  small  mound  at  Peoria,  111. ;  not  all, 
of  course,  attributed  to  Shawnees,  but  in  stone  graves  or 
mounds,  thus  connecting  them  with  the  mound-building 
age,  which  is  the  only  point  with  which  we  are  at  present 
interested. 

Another  important  link  in  this  discussion  is  found  in  the 
engraved  shells,  of  which  specimens  were  found  in  the 
mounds  of  North  Carolina  and  East  Tennessee  attributable 
to  the  Cherokees. 

The  following  list,  showing  localities  where  and  circum- 
stances uader  which  specimens  have  been  found,  will  suffice 
to  show  their  relation  to  the  mounds  and  stone  graves:  Lick 
Creek,  and  near  Knoxville,  E.  Tenn.,  in  mounds;  near  Nash- 
ville, Tenn.,  in  mound,  also  in  stone  grave;  Old  Town, 
Franklin,  and  Sevierville,  Tenn.,  in  mounds;  Bartow  Coun- 
ty, Ga.,  in  stone  grave  in  mound;  Monroe  County,  E.Tenn., 
Lee  County,  Va.,  and  Caldwell  County,  N.C.,  in  mounds;  near 
Mussel-Shoals,  Ala.,  in  cave;  New  Madrid.  Mo.,  and  Union 
County,  III,  in  mounds;  St.  Clair  County,  111.,  in  stone 
grave. 

As  a  large  number  of  these  bear  exactly  the  same  carved 
designs  as  those  found  in  the  Cherokee  mounds,  the  evidence 
seems  conclusive  that  we  must  assign  them  to  the  same  age. 
This,  of  course,  connects  the  Cherokees  with  the  mound- 
builders'  era,  and  furnishes  a  justifiable  basis  for  another 
backward  step.  But  before  attempting  to  take  this,  I  add 
some  information  on  the  point  now  under  discussion,  gath- 
ered by  Mr.  James  Mooney  during  his  ethnological  investi- 
gations among  the  Cherokees  in  behalf  of  the  Bureau  of 
Ethnology.  This  is  given  in  a  paper  read  before  the  An- 
thropological Society  of  Washington  City. 

"In  connection  with  my  work,  at  the  instance  of  the  Bu- 
reau of  Ethnology,  in  the  summer  of  1887,  I  visited  the  East 
Cherokee  reservation  in  western  North  Carolina.  Being 
delayed  over  night  at  a  small  town  called  Webster,  about 


THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES.  43 

twenty  miles  from  the  reservation,  an  opportunity  was  afford- 
ed to  make  the  acquaintance  of  Capt.  J,  W.  Terrell,  the  post- 
master, an  intelligent  American,  who  in  his  younger  days 
had  been  a  trader  among  the  Cherokees,  and  who  has  some 
knowledge  of  the  language.  In  the  course  of  our  conversa- 
tion he  stated  that  about  thirty  years  ago  he  had  been  told 
by  an  old  Indian  named  Tsiskwaya  that  the  Cherokees  had 
built  the  mounds  in  their  country,  and  that  on  the  occasion 
of  the  annual  green-corn  dance  it  was  the  custom  in  ancient 
times  for  each  household  to  procure  fresh  fire  from  a  new 
fire  kindled  in  the  town-house.  I  afterward  found  that  this 
Tsiskwaya  had  been  regarded  as  an  authority  on  such  mat- 
ters. 

"Subsequently,  in  investigating  the  ceremonies  of  the 
green-corn  dance,  this  statement  was  confirmed  by  another 
old  man,  who  volunteered  the  additional  information  that 
it  was  customary  to  begin  a  mound  on  the  occasion  of  this 
dance,  when  representatives  of  the  seven  gentes  brought 
baskets  filled  with  earth,  which  was  placed  in  a  common 
pile  with  appropriate  ceremonies,  and  afterward  added  to  by 
the  labors  of  the  common  people.  This  man  is  somewhat 
unreliable,  and  his  testimony  would  have  little  weight  by  it- 
self, but  it  is  of  value  in  so  far  as  it  is  borne  out  by  the  state- 
ments of  others.  It  is  proper  to  state,  however,  that  he  was 
one  of  the  masters  of  ceremonies  at  the  green-corn  dance  of 
1887,  so  that  he  may  reasonably  be  supposed  to  know  some- 
thing on  that  subject.  Of  curious  interest  in  this  connec- 
tion is  the  fact  that  Miss  Alice  C.  Fletcher  witnessed  a  simi- 
lar ceremonial  mound-building  at  one  of  the  secret  rites  of 
the  Winnebagoes. 

"But  the  most  detailed  statement  as  to  the  mounds  was 
obtained  afterward  from  Ayunini  ('Swimmer'),  who,  although 
not  an  old  man,  is  one  of  the  most  prominent  Cherokee  sha- 
mans and  a  general  conservator  of  Indian  knowledge,  being 
probably  better  acquainted  with  the  myths,  traditions,  and 


44  THE  CHEROKEES  IN   PRE-COLUMBIAN  TBIES. 

ceremonial  formulas  than  any  other  man-of  the  tribe.  For 
some  time  he  refused  to  talk,  but  this  difficulty  was  finally 
overcome  by  appealing  to  his  professional  pride;  and  his 
stock  of  Indian  lore  proved  so  extensive,  that  I  brought  him 
to  the  house,  and  kept  him  with  me  most,  of  the  time.  This 
aroused  the  jealousy  of  rivals,  who  took  occasion  to  circulate 
damaging  reports  as  to  his  lionesty;  but  in  ever}^  instance  I 
found  his  statements  borne  out  by  other  testimony  or  by 
general  analogy.  Making  due  allowance  for  the  mythologic 
features,  which  rather  serve  to  establish  its  traditional  char- 
acter, his  account  is  probably  as  full  and  accurate  as  could 
be  expected  at  this  late  day,  and  briefly  is  as  follows: — 

"  '  The  practice  of  building  mounds  originated  with  the 
Anintsi,  and  was  kept  up  by  the  Ani-Kituhwagi.  They 
were  built  as  sites  for  town-houses  (see  Bartram's  account 
of  Cowe  mound  and  town-house) ;  and  some  were  low,  w^hile 
others  were  as  high  as  small  trees.  In  building  the  mound, 
a  fire  was  first  kindled  on  the  level  surface.  Around  the  fire 
M  as  placed  a  circle  of  stones,  outside  of  which  were  depos- 
ited the  bodies  of  seven  prominent  men,  one  from  each  gens, 
these  bodies  being  exhumed  for  the  purpose  from  previous 
interments.' 

"Swimmer  said  that  his  statement  was  obtained  from  a 
man  who  died  in  1865,  aged  about  seventy.  Some  time 
later,  while  talking  with  an  intelligent  woman  in  regard  to 
local  points  of  interest,  she  mentioned  the  large  mound  near 
Franklin,  in  Macon  County,  and  remarked,  'There's  fire  at 
the  bottom  of  that  mound.'  "Without  giving  her  any  idea 
of  what  Swimmer  had  said,  I  inquired  of  her  how  the  fire 
got  there,  when  she  told  substantially  the  same  story  as  she 
had  obtained  it  from  an  old  woman  now  dead.  She  was  of  the 
opinion  that  this  fire  existed  only  in  the  larger  mounds;  but 
I  found  on  investigation  that  the  belief  was  general  that  the 
fires  still  existed,  and  occasionally  sent  up  columns  of  smoke 
above  the  tops  of  the  mounds." 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Summing  up  the  evidence  introduced,  it  leads  to  the  fol- 
lowing conclusions: — 

1.  That  some  of  the  Cherokees  reached  their  historic 
seat  before  the  year  1540,  probably  as  early  as  the  latter  part 
of  the  thirteenth  century. 

2.  That  they  came  from  some  point  to  the  north  or  north- 
west, apparently  in  the  region  of  the  Ohio  River. 

3.  That  some,  if  not  all,  of  the  mounds  of  western  North 
Carolina  and  East  Tennessee  were  built  by  the  people  of  this 
tribe. 

Assuming  these  points  to  be  sufficiently  established,  let  us 
see  what  evidence  can  be  adduced  indicating  their  line  of 
migration. 

If  their  former  home  was  in  the  region  of  the  Upper  Ohio, 
and  they  stopped  for  a  while  on  New  River  and  the  head 
waters  of  the  Holston,  their  line  of  retreat  was  in  all  likeli- 
hood up  the  valley  of  the  Great  Kanawha.  This  suppo- 
sition agrees  also  with  the  fact  that  no  traces  of  them  are 
found  in  the  ancient  works  of  Kentucky  or  middle 
Tennessee.  In  truth,  the  works  along  the  Ohio  River  from 
Portsmouth  (except  those  at  this  point)  to  Cincinnati,  and 
throughout  northern  Kentucky,  are  different  from  the  typi- 

45 


46  THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES. 

cal  works  of  Ohio,  and  most  of  thetn  of  a  type  found  in  no 
other  district.  On  the  other  hand,  it  happens,  precisely  in 
accordance  with  the  theory  advanced,  that  we  find  in  the 
Kanawha  valley,  near  the  city  of  Charleston,  a  very  exten- 
sive group  of  ancient  works,  stretching  along  the  banks 
of  the  stream  for  more  than  two  miles,  consisting  of  quite 
large  as  well  as  small  mounds,  circular  and  rectangular 
enclosures,  etc.  A  careful  survey  of  this  group  has  been 
made,  and  a  number  of  the  tumuli,  including  the  larger 
ones,  explored  by  the  representatives  of  the  Bureau  of  Eth- 
nology. 

The  result  of  these  explorations  has  been  to  bring  to  light 
some  very  important  data  bearing  upon  the  present  ques- 
tion. In  fact,  the  discoveries  made  here  seem  to  furnish  the 
connecting  link  between  some  of  the  works  of  Ohio  and 
those  of  East  Tennessee  and  North  Carolina  ascribed  to  the 
Cherokees. 

Subsequent  to  the  preparation  of  the  paper  on  the  "Burial- 
Mounds  of  the  Northern  Section,"  published  in  the  "Fifth 
Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology,"  further  explo- 
rations and  a  careful  resurvey  of  the  group  near  Charleston 
were  made.  In  order  to  show  the  bearing  of  the  data 
obtained  on  the  questions  involved  in  this  discussion,  it  is 
necessary  to  give  somewhat  detailed  descriptions  of  some  of 
the  mounds  explored. 

Mound  15  of  this  group  (for  convenience  the  numbers  in 
the  original  sketch  are  used)  was  sixty-five  feet  in  diameter 
and  five  in  height,  though  a  considerable  portion  had  been 
ploughed  ofip  in  cultivating  the  soil.  In  the  top  was  a  ba- 
sin-shaped fire-bed  somewhat  oval  in  outline,  being  about 
seven  feet  long  and  four  feet  wide.  This  was  composed  of  a 
mixture  of  clay  and  ashes  burned  to  a  brick  red  on  the  up- 
per side;  but  the  under  side  had  a  black,  greasy  appear- 
ance. Below  this  was  a  similar  bed,  on  and  about  which 
were   numerous  small  fragments  of  bones,  but  too  much 


THE  CHER0KEE3  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES.  47 

broken  and  charred  to  show  whether  they  were  human  or 
animal. 

These  basin-shaped  beds  remind  us  of  those  of  similar 
form  found  in  the  mounds  of  East  Tennessee,  and  present 
one  indication  of  relationship  between  the  mound-builders  of 
the  two  sections. 

Mound  No.  18,  about  the  same  size  as  the  preceding,  con- 
tained a  similar  series  of  basin-shaped  fire-beds,  lying  one 
below  the  other  in  the  central  portion.  Below  them,  near 
the  bottom  of  the  mound,  was  a  considerable  bed  of  charcoal 
and  ashes;  and  immediately  under  this,  on  the  original  sur- 
face of  the  ground,  the  fragments  of  a  skeleton,  with  which 
were  a  number  of  broken  arrow  and  spear  heads. 

Mound  No.  1  of  the  group  is  of  large  size,  measuring  five 
hundred  and  twenty  feet  in  circumference  and  thirty-three 
in  height.  This  was  explored  by  sinking  a  shaft  twelve  feet 
square  to  the  bottom.  At  the  depth  of  from  three  to  four 
feet,  in  a  bed  of  mixed  clay  and  ashes,  were  three  skeletons 
lying  extended  on  their  backs,  doubtless  intrusive  burials. 
From  this  point  downwards  for  twenty  feet,  nearly  all  of  the 
material  in  the  shaft  consisted  of  the  same  mixed  substances, 
so  hard  as  to  require  the  constant  use  of  the  pick.  At  the 
depth  of  twenty-four  feet  there  was  a  sudden  change  to  a 
much  softer  and  darker-colored  earth,  in  which  were  the 
casts  and  decayed  fragments  of  poles  and  logs  from  six  to 
twelve  inches  in  diameter.  These,  together  with  fragments 
of  bark,  ashes,  and  animal  bones  which  had  been  split 
lengthwise,  continued  through  a  layer  of  about  six  feet.  At 
the  depth  of  thirty-one  feet  a  human  skeleton  was  discovered 
lying  prostrate,  head  north,  the  skull  crushed  but  partly 
preserved  by  contact  with  a  sheet  of  copper  (only  fragments 
of  which  remained)  that  probably  once  formed  part  of  a 
head-dress  of  some  kind.  By  enlarging  and  curbing,  the 
shaft  was  extended  to  a  diameter  of  sixteen  feet.  It  was 
then   found  that  a  layer  of   elm-bark  had   been    carefully 


48  THE   CHEROKEES  IN   PRE-COLUMBIAN   TIMES. 

spread,  with  the  inner  side  up,  upon  the  smoothed  and  well- 
packed  surface  of  the  ground.  This  had  been  covered  with 
a  layer  a  few  inches  thick  of  fine  white  ashes.  On  this  the 
body  was  laid,  and  covered  with  similar  bark. 

Ten  other  skeletons,  all  buried  in  the  same  manner,  were 
found  at  this  point,  arranged,  five  on  each  side,  in  a  semi- 
circle around  the  central  one  just  mentioned,  with  feet 
turned  toward  it.  With  each  skeleton  on  the  east  side  of 
the  centre  was  a  fine,  apparently  unused  lance-head ;  and  by 
the  side  of  the  northern  one  of  these  five,  a  fish-dart,  three 
arrow-points,  and  some  decayed  mussel-shells.  Nothing  was 
found  with  the  other  five.  With  the  central  one,  in  addi- 
tion to  what  has  been  mentioned,  were  six  shell  beads  and  a 
large  lance-head. 

But  what  interests  us  more  at  present  is  the  fact  that  near 
the  head  of  the  latter  was  a  conical  vault  of  very  hard  clay, 
about  four  feet  high  and  five  feet  in  diameter.  This  was 
partially  filled  with  rotten  bark,  human  bones,  and  dark, 
decomposed  matter.  Immediately  under  this,  but  covered 
with  clay,  were  two  circular  holes  about  sixteen  inches  in 
diameter,  and  four  feet  deep.  A  similar  pair  of  holes  was 
found  at  the  head  of  each  of  the  ten  surrounding  skeletons, 
ranging  in  depth  from  two  to  three  feet,  and  in  diameter 
from  eight  to  twelve  inches. 

The  little  beehive  vault,  resembling  so  exactly  in  form  and 
size  those  of  North  Carolina,  although  built  of  clay,  is  an- 
other indication  cf  relationship  between  the  mound-builders 
of  the  two  sections.  On  the  other  hand,  the  burial  between 
the  layers  of  bark  is  precisely  what  is  often  found  to  be  the 
case  in  the  Ohio  mounds,  as  appears  from  the  following 
statements  by  Messrs.  Squier  and  Davis  in  '  'Ancient  Monu- 
ments:" "The  course  of  preparation  for  the  burial  seemed 
to  have  been  as  follows:  the  surface  of  the  ground  was  first 
carefully  levelled,  and  packed  over  an  area  perhaps  ten  or 
fifteen  feet  square.     This  area  was  then  covered  with  sheets 


THE  CHEROKEES  IN   PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES.  49 

of  bark,  on  which,  in  the  centre,  the  body  of  the  dead  was 
deposited,  with  a  few  articles  of  stone  at  its  side,  and  a  few 
small  ornaments  near  the  head.  It  was  then  covered  over 
with  another  layer  of  bark,  and  the  mound  heaped  above." 

The  individual  or  skeleton  buried  in  the  conical  vault  had 
probably  been  wrapped  in  bark. 

That  there  was  a  wooden  structure  of  some  kind  covering" 
the  area  occupied  by  the  skeletons  is  more  than  probable,  as 
thus  only  can  we  account  for  the  timbers.  The  holes  men- 
tioned may  indicate  the  position  of  a  former  structure,  but 
this  had  been  removed  before  the  burials  took  place.  It 
would  seem  that  most,  if  not  all,  of  the  burials  took  place 
at  one  time,  and  after  the  flesh  had  been  removed. 

Mound  21,  known  locally  as  the  "Great  Smith  Mound,"  is 
the  largest  of  the  group,  being  a  regular  cone,  thirty-five 
feet  high,  and  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  feet  in  diameter 
at  the  base.  This  was  explored  by  sinking  a  shaft  to  the 
bottom  twelve  feet  in  diameter.  It  is  a  double  mound,  or 
mound  of  two  stages.  The  first  building  carried  it  to  the 
height  of  twenty  feet:  after  a  considerable  time  had  elapsed, 
another  stage  of  work  carried  it  to  its  present  height.  Near 
the  top  were  some  skeletons,  probably  intrusive  burials.  At 
the  depth  of  twelve  feet  the  explorers  began  to  find  the  frag- 
ments and  casts  of  logs,  the  first  being  that  of  a  black-wal- 
nut log,  which  must  have  been  ner.rly  twelve  inches  in  diam- 
eter and  several  feet  in  length.  Further  excavation  made  it 
apparent  that  these  timbers  were  the  remains  of  a  wooden 
vault  about  thirteen  feet  long  and  twelve  feet  wide.  From 
all  the  indications, — the  casts  of  the  posts  and  logs,  the  bark 
and  clay  lining,  the  fallen  timbers,  the  bark  of  the  roof, 
etc., — it  was  inferred  that  the  vault  was  constructed  as  fol- 
lows: after  the  mound,  which  was  at  this  time  twenty  feet 
high,  had  been  standing  for  an  indefinite  length  of  time,  a 
square  pit,  twelve  by  thirteen  feet,  was  dug  m  the  top  to  the 
depth  of  six  feet;  posts  were  then  placed  along  the  sides  and 


50  THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES. 

ends,  the  former  reaching  only  to  the  surface,  but  the  cen- 
tral ones  at  the  ends  rising  four  feet  higher;  on  the  latter 
was  placed  the  ridge-pole  (the  walnut  log  first  encountered) ; 
the  sides  were  plastered  with  a  mixture  of  clay  and  ashes, 
and  possibly  lined  with  bark;  the  roof,  which  had  fallen  in, 
was  made  of  poles,  and  covered  with  bark;  over  all  was 
heaped  the  superincumbent  mound  fifteen  feet  in  height. 

In  this  vault  were  five  skeletons,  one  lying  prostrate  on 
the  floor  at  the  centre.  The  other  four  had  been  placed,  one 
in  each  corner,  apparently  in  an  upright  position.  All  had 
been  wrapped  in  bark.  The  central  skeleton  was  very  large, 
measuring  a  little  over  seven  feet  in  length.  Each  wrist 
was  encircled  by  six  heavy  copper  bracelets.  A  fragment  of 
the  wrapping,  preserved  by  contact  with  the  copper,  shows 
that  it  was  black-walnut  bark.  A  piece  of  dressed  skin, 
which  had  probably  formed  the  inner  wrapping,  was  also 
preserved  by  the  copper.  Upon  the  breast  was  a  copper 
gorget ;  by  each  hand  were  three  flmt  lance-heads ;  near  the 
right  hand,  a  small  hematite  celt  and  a  stone  axe.  Around 
the  head,  neck,  and  hips  were  about  one  hundred  small,  per- 
forated sea-shells  and  some  shell  beads.  Upon  the  left 
shoulder,  lying  one  upon  another,  were  three  sheets  of  mica 
from  eight  to  ten  inches  long,  six  to  seven  in  width,  and  half 
an  inch  thick. 

Further  discoveries  of  badly  decayed  skeletons  were  made 
in  carrying  the  shaft  downward  below  the  vault,  but  noth- 
ing with  which  we  are  at  present  concerned  except  the  fact 
that  among  the  articles  obtained  was  the  steatite  pipe  shown 
in  Fig.  8. 

The  significance  of  this  mound  lies  in  the  close  resem- 
blance it  bears,  in  some  respects,  to  the  Grave  Creek  mound, 
which,  according  to  the  tradition  of  the  Cherokees,  was  built 
by  their  ancestors.  But  at  present  no  argument  is  based 
upon  this  part  of  the  tradition.  This  latter  giant  tumulus  is 
in  the  form  of  a  regular  cone,  seventy  feet  high,  and  nearly 


THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES.  51 

three  hundred  in  diameter  at  the  base.  A  shaft  sunk  from 
the  apex  to  the  base  disclosed  two  wooden  vaults, — the  first 
about  half  way  down,  and  the  other  at  the  bottom.  In  the 
first  or  upper  one  was  a  single  skeleton  decorated  with  a 
profusion  of  shell  beads,  copper  bracelets,  and  plates  of  mica. 
The  lower  vault,  which  was  partly  in  an  excavation  made 
in  the  natural  ground,  was  rectangular,  twelve  by  eight 
feet,  and  seven  feet  high.  Placed  close  together  along  each 
side  and  across  the  ends  of  the  excavation  were  upright  tim- 
bers or  posts,  which  supported  others  thrown  across  to  form 
the  roof.  In  this  vault  were  two  human  skeletons,  one  of 
which  had  no  ornaments,  while  the  other  was  surrounded 


with  hundreds  of  shell  beads.  In  attempting  to  enlarge  this 
vault,  the  workmen  discovered  around  it  ten  other  skele- 
tons. 

The  similarity  in  the  method  of  constructing  the  vaults  is 
marked  and  peculiar.  Wooden  vaults  are  not  uncommon; 
but  those  partially  sunk  in  a  pit,  with  the  sides  and  ends 
formed  of  upright  posts,  are  very  rare,  and  are  probably  due 
to  some  peculiar  custom,  and  indicate  tribal  identity  of  the 
builders.  We  notice  also  the  presence,  with  one  of  the 
skeletons  in  each  mound,  of,  copper  bracelets  and  plates  of 
mica.     In  both  a  vault  is  built  about  midway  the  height. 

Mound  31  of  the  Kanawha  group  presents  some  striking  re- 
semblances to  the  so-called  "  sacrificial  mounds "  of  Ohio.    It 


53  THE   CHEROKEES   IN   PRE-COLUarBIAN  TIMES. 

is  somewhat  flattened  on  top,  three  hundred  and  eighteen 
feet  in  eircumference  at  the  base,  and  twenty-five  feet  high. 
After  passing  through  the  top  layer  of  soil,  some  two  feet 
thick,  a  layer  of  clay  and  ashes  one  foot  thick  was  encoun- 
tered. Here,  near  the  centre  of  the  shaft,  were  two  skele- 
tons lying  horizontally.  These  were  probably  intrusive 
burials.  At  the  depth  of  thirteen  feet,  and  a  little  north  of 
the  centre  of  the  mound,  were  two  large  skeletons  in  a  sit- 
ting posture,  with  their  extended  legs  interlocked  to  the 
knees.  Their  arms  were  extended  and  their  hands  slightly 
elevated,  as  if  they  were  together  holding  up  a  sandstone 
mortar  which  was  between  their  faces.  At  the  depth  of 
twenty-five  feet,  and  resting  on  the  natural  surface  of  the 
ground,  was  one  of  the  so-called  "altars,"  precisely  similar 
to  those  found  in  some  of  the  Ohio  mounds.  This,  which 
was  thoroughly  traced,  was  found  to  be  twelve  feet  long  and 
a  little  over  eight  feet  wide.  It  consisted  of  clay,  apparently 
slightly  mixed  with  ashes,  the  middle  portion  basin-shaped, 
and  the  margins  sloping  downwards  and  outwards;  in  other 
words,  it  was  a  typical  "altar,"  similar  to  that  shown  in 
Fig.  32,  "Ancient  Monuments."  The  depth  of  the  basin  in 
the  centre  was  a  little  over  a  foot,  and  the  thickness  of  the 
bottom  at  this  point  about  six  inches.  On  this  rested  a  com- 
pact layer  of  very  fine  white  ashes  from  one  to  two  feet 
thick,  entirely  covering  this  clay  bed.  Scattered  through 
them  were  many  water- worn  bowlders  from  three  to  five 
inches  in  diameter,  all  bearing  indications  of  exposure  to  in- 
tense heat ;  also  fragments  of  charred  bones,  some  of  which 
were  nearly  destroyed  by  heat.  The  upper  side  of  this  clay 
bed  or  "altar"  was  burned  to  a  brick  red. 

That  this  tumulus  must  be  classed  with  the  (so-called) 
"sacrificial  mounds"  of  Ohio,  will,  it  is  presumed,  be  ad- 
mitted without  any  objection.  As  the  custom  of  building 
these  clay  structures,  to  which  Messrs.  Squior  and  Davis  ap- 
plied the  name  "altars,"  seems  to  have  been  peculiar  to  one 


THE   CHEROKEES   IN   PRE-COLUMBIAN   TIMES.  53 

class  of  Ohio  mouiul-builders,  we  have  liere  one  very  strong 
indication  that  the  people  who  built  the  mounds  of  this  Ka- 
nawha group  belonged  to  the  same  tribe. 

Mound  23  is  of  considerable  size,  measuring  three  hundred 
and  twelve  feet  in  circumference  and  twenty-five  in  height. 
It  had  never  been  disturbed  in  any  way,  and  was  the  most 
pointed  and  symmetrical  of  the  group. 

As  the  discoveries  made  in  it  are  important  in  this  con- 
nection, the  report  of  the  Bureau  explorer  is  given  somewhat 
fully. 

It  was  examined  by  sinking  a  large  central  shaft  to  the 
bottom.  From  the  top  to  the  depth  of  fifteen  feet,  the  ma- 
terial passed  through  was  an  exceedingly  hard,  gray  mix- 
ture, apparently  of  ashes  and  clay.  At  this  depth  casts  of 
poles  and  timbers  of  various  sizes  were  discovered,  but  all 
less  than  a  foot  in  diameter,  extending  into  the  western  and 
southern  sides  of  the  shaft.  These  casts  and  rotten  wood 
and  bark  continued  to  increase  in  amount  nearly  to  the 
natural  soil,  which  was  reached  at  the  depth  of  twenty-five 
feet.  The  dtbris  being  removed,  and  the  bottom  of  the 
shaft  enlarged  to  fourteen  feet  in  diameter,  it  was  ascer- 
tained that  these  timbers  had  formed  a  square  or  polygonal 
vault,  twelve  feet  across,  and  some  eight  or  ten  feet  high  in 
the  centre.  This  had  been  built  up  in  the  form  of  a  pen, 
the  ends  of  the  poles  extending  beyond  the  corners.  The 
roof  must  have  been  sloping,  as  the  ends  of  the  poles  used 
in  making  it  extended  downward  beyond  the  walls  on  which 
they  rested.  On  the  floor  of  this  vault,  which  corre- 
sponded with  the  original  surface  of  the  ground,  were  two 
adult  skeletons,  the  bones  of  which,  though  but  little  de- 
cayed, were  crushed  and  pressed  out  of  position.  No  imple- 
ment or  ornament  was  found  with  them. 

As  the  earth  of  this  floor  did  not  appear  to  be  the  natural 
soil,  the  shaft  was  carried  down  four  feet  farther.  This  re- 
vealed a  pit,  the  lateral  extent  of  wliich  could  not  be  deter- 


54  THE   CHEROKEES   IN   PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES. 

mined,  but  which  had  been  dug  to  the  depth  of  four  feet  in 
the  original  soil.  On  the  floor  of  this  pit,  at  one  side,  ar- 
ranged in  a  semicircle,  were  six  small  clay  vaults  in  the 
shape  of  beehives,  about  three  feet  in  diameter  at  the  bot- 
tom, and  the  same  in  height. 

They  were  made  of  clay  and  ashes  mixed,  very  hard,  and 
impervious  to  water.  Possibly  they  had  been  allowed  to 
dry  before  being  covered  with  earth.  They  were  partially 
filled  with  a  dark,  dry  dust,  apparently  of  some  decayed 
substance.     A  few  fragments  of  bones  were  found  in  them. 

In  the  centre  of  the  space  around  which  these  little  vaults 
were  arranged,  but  only  two  feet  below  the  floor  of  the  large 
wooden  vault,  were  two  small  clay-lined  cavities  about  the 
size  and  form  of  the  ordinary  water-jars  from  the  Arkansas 
mounds.  Possibly  they  were  decayed,  unburnt  vessels  which 
had  been  deposited  here  at  the  time  of  burial. 

The  bottom  of  the  pit,  which  consisted  of  the  natural  de- 
posit of  yellow  sand,  was  covered  with  a  layer  of  charcoal 
and  ashes  two  or  three  inches  thick.  This  sand  appeared  to 
have  been  heated,  from  which  it  is  inferred  that  the  burning 
took  place  in  the  pit  previous  to  the  formation  of  the  vaults. 

The  work  was  suspended  at  this  stage,  on  account  of  ex- 
treme cold  weather,  but  was  recommenced  the  following 
season  by  running  trenches  from  the  sides  into  the  shaft,  and 
afterward  carrying  a  tunnel  in  at  the  base.  In  one  of  these 
trenches,  nine  feet  from  the  top,  occurred  a  layer  of  soft 
earth,  in  which  were  numerous  fragments  of  decayed  tim- 
bers and  bark,  also  casts  of  logs  extending  horizontally  into 
the  sides  of  the  trench.  These,  it  is  presumed  from  what 
was  afterward  discovered,  pertained  to  a  wooden  burial- 
vault.  The  tunnel  carried  in  at  the  base  was  from  the  south 
side,  ten  feet  wide,  and  eight  feet  high.  For  a  distance  of 
twenty  feet  it  passed  through  the  hard  gray  material  of 
which  the  body  of  the  mound  was  composed  Here  the  ex- 
plorers suddenly  encountered  a  deposit  of  soft  earth  in  len- 


THE   CHEROKEES   IN   PRE-COLUMBIAN   TIMES.  55 

ticular  masses  and  of  various  colors,  showing  that  it  had 
been  brought  from  the  hillsides  and  bottoms  near  by.  A 
short  distance  from  this  point  they  began  to  find  the  casts 
and  remains  of  the  timbers  of  the  large  central  vault,  but, 
before  reaching  the  interior,  passed  over  a  small  refuse-heap, 
evidently  belonging  to  an  age  preceding  the  date  of  the 
building  of  the  mound.  As  they  entered  the  remains  of  the 
vault,  they  began  to  find  tolerably  well  preserved  human 
bones,  but  no  whole  skeletons.  Seeing  here  indications  of 
the  pit  before  mentioned,  the  tunnel  was  carried  downward 
four  feet,  disclosing  five  little  clay  vaults  similar  to  those 
found  on  the  other  side,  and,  like  them,  placed  in  a  semi- 
circle. It  was  now  decided  to  remove  and  thoroughly  ex- 
plore about  one-half  of  the  mound.  Many  stone  imple- 
ments, some  entire  but  most  of  them  broken,  seemingly  by 
the  action  of  fire,  were  scattered  through  the  hard  upper 
layer,  also  numerous  single  valves  of  mussels  which  had 
been  used  as  digging-tools  until  they  were  worn  from  the 
outside  entirely  through. 

There  was  a  marked  dissimilarity  between  the  northern 
and  southern  sides  of  this  mound,  the  former  being  a  com- 
pact mass  of  variously  colored  soils  from  different  points  in 
the  vicinity,  in  alternate  horizontal  laj'ers.  The  separate 
loads  of  the  individuals  who  carried  this  earth  were  plainly 
defined ;  and  the  different  sizes  of  these  small  masses  indi- 
cate that  many  persons,  some  much  stroQger  than  others, 
were  simultaneously  engaged  in  the  work. 

With  the  exception  of  the  imperfect  or  broken  specimens 
mentioned  above,  no  remains  of  any  kind  were  found  in 
that  portion  of  the  mound  above  the  fire-bed  and  north  of 
the  central  shaft,  and  only  two  skeletons  beneath  it;  while 
many  interesting  finds  of  implements  were  made  all  through 
the  loose,  ashy  dirt  of  the  southern  part,  and  many  skele- 
tons below  it.  The  amount  of  rotten  wood  and  bark  ob- 
served, and  the  positions  of  the  casts  of  logs  and  poles,  some 


56  THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES. 

of  which  extended  downward  four  feet  below  the  natural 
surface  of  the  ground,  render  it  probable  that  there  was  a 
wooden  structure  here  twelve  feet  square  and  three  stories 
high,  or,  what  is  more  likely,  three  structures,  one  above 
another. 

A  foot  above  the  natural  surface,  or  twenty-four  feet  from 
the  top  of  the  mound,  was  a  smooth  horizontal  layer  of  sand 
and  ashes,  interrupted  by  two  heavy  fire-beds.  These  beds 
were  circular  m  form,  eight  feet  in  diameter,  and  about  ten 
feet  apart.  The  earth  was  burned  hard  for  eight  inches  be- 
low the  ashes.  Under  these  beds  were  several  human  skele- 
tons. 

No.  1,  a  medium-sized  adult,  was  extended  on  the  back, 
head  south,  arms  by  the  side.  This  was  four  feet  below  the 
centre  of  the  northern  fire-bed.  No  trace  of  a  coffin  was  ob- 
served, but  a  rude  hoe  and  a  rough  lance-head  were  at  the 
left  side. 

No.  2  was  four  feet  north  of  No.  1,  at  the  same  depth.  It 
lay  with  the  feet  toward  the  centre  of  the  mound,  and  was 
enclosed  in  a  kind  of  coffin  formed  by  leaning  flat  stones  to- 
gether over  the  body  in  the  form  of  an  inverted  V,  and 
placing  a  similar  stone  against  the  end  at  the  head.  A 
number  of  relics  were  with  this  skeleton,  and  on  the  stone 
at  the  head  was  a  hematite  celt.  Two  feet  north  of  the  head 
were  the  fragments  of  a  large  clay  vessel. 

No.  3,  similarly  placed,  was  four  feet  under  the  north 
edge  of  the  other  fire-bed.  Some  relics  were  found  above  the 
head,  and  others  in  a  small  conical  vault  near  the  left  side. 

No.  4,  same  depth  as  the  preceding,  had  the  head  toward 
the  centre  of  the  mound.  A  small  vault  near  the  head  con- 
tamed  several  relics  of  different  sorts. 

Nos.  5  and  6  lay  near  together,  with  heads  south.     There 

as  a  small  vault  near  the  feet  of  the  smaller  skeleton. 

None  of  these  skeletons  were  found  immediately  in  the 
centre  of  the  mound,  and  all  were  about  four  feet  below  the 


THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN   TIMES.  57 

natural  surface  of  the  ground,  resting*  on  the  bottom  of  the 
l^it,  as  were  the  little  conical  vaults.  Nine  vaults  in  addi- 
tion to  those  mentioned  were  unearthed, — four  of  them  on 
the  bottom  of  the  pit,  and  five  above  it.  They  were  similar 
in  form  and  size  to  those  heretofore  described.  There  was 
one  toward  the  south  side  of  the  pit  elongate  in  form,  and 
not  more  than  two  feet  wide  and  two  feet. high. 

Another  mound,  numbered  30  in  the  original  plat,  had  a 
circular  pit  beneath  it,  in  which  were  several  beehive-shaped 
clay  vaults  similar  to  those  heretofore  mentioned.  The  ex- 
plorer, however,  m  this  case,  fails  to  mention  the  arrange- 
ment or  to  note  particularly  the  contents,  owing  perhaps  to 
the  pit  being  partially  filled  with  water,  which  prevented  a 
thorough  examination. 

By  a  careful  comparison  of  the  discoveries  made  in  the 
mounds  of  this  Kanawha  group  with  those  made  in  the 
mounds  of  the  Cherokee  section,  the  reader  will  observe 
some  striking  similarities  which  cannot  be  easily  accounted 
for  upon  any  other  theory  than  that  of  tribal  identity  or  in- 
timate relations  of  the  peoples  of  the  two  sections.  It  is  true 
that  we  find  enclosures  in  the  former  locality,  and  none  in 
the  latter,  and  it  is  also  true  that  we  notice  other  dissimi- 
larities ;  but  some  changes  in  customs  and  works  are  to  be 
expected  where  there  is  a  change  of  location.  Necessities, 
materials,  and  environments  are  different,  and  bring  about 
modifications  of  customs.  These  changes  are  apparent  in 
all  parts  of  the  mound  area,  even  where  there  are  good  rea- 
sons for  attributing  the  works  to  the  same  people:  in  fact, 
they  are  sometimes  found  in  a  single  group. 

It  is  true,  we  cannot  assert  positively  that  the  little  coni- 
cal clay  vaults  above  described,  except  in  one  or  two  cases, 
were  depositories  of  the  dead,  as  were  the  conical  bowlder 
vAults  of  North  Carolina  and  East  Tennessee;  yet  the  very 
marked  similarity  in  form  and  size,  and  correspondence  in 
their  arrangement  in  the  tumuli,  justify  the  belief  that  there 


58  THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES. 

was  a  relationship  between  the  authors  of  the  works  of  the  two 
sections.  Not  only  are  they  similar  in  size  and  form,  but  in  both 
localities  pits  were  dug  in  the  original  soil,  the  floor  was  cov- 
ered with  coals  or  ashes  in  some  cases,  and  the  vaults  built 
on  these  and  the  mound  heaped  over  them.  It  should  also 
be  borne  in  mind  that  vaults  of  this  kmd,  arranged  as  here 
stated,  have  so  far  been  found  only  in  these  two  sections. 
The  arrangement  in  a  circle  found  in  the  mound  in  Sulli- 
van County,  Tenn.,  has  its  parallel  in  one  of  the  mounds  of 
the  Kanawha  group.  In  one  was  also  found  the  pipe  shown 
in  Fig.  8 ;  in  the  other,  that  shown  in  Fig.  5. 

In  further  corroboration  of  the  theory  of  relationship  be- 
tween the  people  of  the  two  sections,  may  be  mentioned  the 
fact  that  in  the  mounds  of  both  we  find  the  peculiar  basin- 
shaped  beds  placed  in  series  one  above  another. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Having  traced  back  the  tribe  by  the  mound  evidence  thus 
far  along  the  traditional  line  of  migration  with  strong  prob- 
ability of  being  correct,  we  are  prepared  to  take  another 
backward  step.  As  will  be  observed  by  the  careful  reader, 
reliance  has  been  placed  in  this  investigation  upon  what  ap- 
pear to  be  indications  of  peculiar  customs.  Connection  with 
the  group  of  which  the  great  Grave  Creek  tumulus  forms  a 
prominent  feature  seems  to  be  established,  thus  verifying  the 
ancient  "oration,"  or  tradition,  of  which  Haywood  speaks. 
Allusion  has  also  been  made  to  the  similarity,  in  some  re- 
spects, of  the  works  of  the  Kanawha  group  to  those  of  Ohio, 
but  there  is  more  to  be  added  on  this  point.  Not  only  does 
it  appear  that  it  was  a  custom  in  both  these  sections  to  en- 
close the  bodies  of  the  dead  in  bark,  to  bury  in  wooden 
vaults,  and  to  form  at  the  bottom  of  mounds  basin-shaped 
clay  masses  which  have  received  the  name  "altars,"  but 
also  to  arrange  wooden  vaults  the  same  way  in  the  tumuli, 
and  to  build  other  structures  similar  to  each  other  in  form. 

In  confirmation  of  the  statement  in  reference  to  the 
wooden  vaults,  attention  is  called  to  the  description  by  Mr. 
H.  L.  Reynolds,  in  a  recent  bulletin  of  the  Bureau  of  Eth- 
nology, of  a  mound  he  explored  in  Paint  Creek  valley,  Ohio. 

59 


60  THE   CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN   TBIES. 

This  is  the  "square  truncated  mound"  shown  on  No.  1,  Plate 
XXI.,  "Ancient  Monuments,"  which,  by  its  close  proximity 
to  the  combined  square  and  circular  enclosures  known  as  the 
"Baum  Works,"  is  supposed  to  bear  some  intimate  relation 
thereto. 

As  the  description  has  been  published,  it  is  only  necessary 
here  to  allude  to  such  portions  as  have  a  bearing  on  the 
question  before  us. 

At  the  time  it  was  measured  by  Messrs.  Squier  and  Davis 
it  was  a  hundred  and  twenty-five  feet  in  diameter,  and  fifteen 
feet  in  height.  Since  then  its  annual  disturbance  by  plough 
and  freshet  has  reduced  the  height  to  twelve  feet,  and  in- 
creased the  diameter  to  a  hundred  and  forty.  The  same 
agencies  have  likewise  destroyed  its  pj^ramidal  form,  so  that 
now  it  resembles  an  upturned  basin.  It  was  composed,  for 
the  most  part,  of  clay  mottled  with  black  loam,  and  in  some 
places  with  patches  of  a  grajnsh,  plastic  lime.  The  promi- 
nent teature  is  the  evidence  that  two  large  wooden  vaults, 
or  structures  of  some  kind,  had  been  built  here,  one  aoove 
the  other,  as  in  one  of  the  Kanawha  mounds  hei-etofore  de- 
scribed. Both  of  these  structures  had  been  built  of  upright 
posts,  five  inches  in  diameter  and  ten  inches  apart,  forming 
a  regular  circle  thirty  six  feet  in  diameter.  The  lower  circle 
consisted  of  a  single  series,  but  the  upper  of  two,  eighteen 
inches  apart,  the  outer  series  standing  directly  over  the  posts 
of  the  lower  structure. 

Separating  the  two  structures  was  what  the  explorer  terms 
"a  thin,  sagging  streak  of  burnt  clay,"  but  which  reminds 
us  strongly  of  the  basin-shaped  clay  beds  found  in  the 
mounds  of  East  Tennessee  and  Kanawha  valley.  Here  and 
there  upon  its  surface  were  traces  of  black  wood-ashes  and  a 
small  quantity  of  white  bone-ashes.  Horizontal  timber 
moulds,  smaller  in  size  than  the  posts,  filled,  in  places,  with 
charcoal,  could  be  seen  distinctly  lying  against  the  inside  of 
each  line  of  posts.     These  appear  to  have  been  cross-beams 


THE  CHEROKEES   IN   PRE -COLtHVIBLAJ^   TIMES.  61 

or  stays  used  for  braciug-- purposes.  On  the  east  side  there 
was  a  break  in  each  circle,  of  lliree  feet  two  inches,  in  which 
there  were  no  post-moulds.  Within  each  circle,  at  different 
depths,  and  placed  without  any  apparent  regularity,  were 
several  skeletons  Lying  on  the  natural  surface  of  the 
ground,  running  from  the  base  of  the  lower  series  of  posts 
toward  the  centre  of  the  circle,  were  the  remains  of  logs 
about  eight  inches  in  diameter.  Directly  over  tliese  timbers 
was  a  horizontal  layer  of  decayed  and  burnt  wood  or  bark, 
averaging  half  an  inch  thick.  Notice  should  also  1)3  taken 
of  the  fact  that  this  mound  is  on  the  lower  level  near  the 
creek. — in  fact,  is  one  step  or  terrace  below  the  bridge  land- 
ing,— and  is  almost  yearly  surrounded  by  w^ater  from  the 
overflow. 

It  is  true  that  this  mound  shows  some  indication  of  being 
comparatively  recent:  in  fact,  Mr.  Reynolds  found  in  it  a 
small  piece  of  bone  which  he  thought  had  been  shaped  with 
a  steel  knife.  This  supposition,  if  accepted,  would  seem  to 
be  incompatible  with  the  theory  that  attributes  works  of  this 
type  to  the  Cherokees.  We  give  the  data,  however,  as  they 
are,  and  will  present  our  explanation  further  on. 

We  observe  in  this  mound  the  somew^liat  unusual  arrange- 
ment of  one  wooden  structure  above  another,  seen  elsewhere 
only  in  the  Kanawha  and  Grave  Creek  groups;  we  also  no- 
tice that  in  each  case  the  walls  of  these  structures  are  forined 
by  standing  the  timbers  upright.  There  is,  however,  one 
particular  worthy  of  note,  in  which  those  of  the  Ohio  mound 
differ  from  the  others;  to  wit,  the  much  larger  size  of  the 
former,  suggesting  the  possibility  that  they  were  council- 
houses,  and  not  vaults.  But  should  this  conclusion  be 
adopted,  we  find  parallels  in  the  customs  of  the  Cherokees 
and  mound-builders  of  the  Cherokee  district. 

Mr.  Lucien  Carr  of  Cambridge,  Mass.,  explored  a  mound 
in  Lee  County,  Va.,  in  which  were  found  indications  of  a  large 
circular  or  oval  wooden  structure.     From  his  descri])tion,  as 


62  THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES. 

given  in  the  "Tenth  Annual  Report  of  the  Peabody  Mu- 
seum," we  take  the  following-  extract: — 

"The  mound  in  question,  a  truncated  oval  in  shape, 
stands  alone  on  a  gentle  slope;  and,  having  been  in  cultiva- 
tion for  many  years,  the  wear  and  tear  of  the  plough  and 
the  gradual  weathering-away  of  the  summit  made  it  impos- 
sible to  get  at  its  exact  measurements.  A  careful  examina- 
tion, however,  showed  it  to  be  about  three  hundred  feet  in 
circumference  at  the  base,  and  nineteen  feet  in  height.  .  .  . 
On  the  top  was  a  level  space,  oval  in  shape,  the  diameters 
being  respectively  about  fifteen  and  forty  feet.  At  a  dis- 
tance of  eight  or  ten  feet  from  the  brow  of  the  mound,  on 
the  slope,  there  were  found  buried  in  the  earth  the  decaying 
stumps  of  a  series  of  cedar-posts,  which,  I  was  informed  by 
Mr.  Ely,  at  one  time  completely  encircled  it.  He  also  told 
me  that  at  every  ploughing  he  struck  more  or  less  of  these 
posts,  and,  on  digging  for  them,  some  six  or  seven  were 
found  at  different  places,  and  in  such  order  as  showed  that 
they  had  been  placed  in  the  earth  at  regular  intervals  and 
according  to  a  definite  plan.  On  the  top,  in  the  line  of  the 
greatest  diameter,  and  nearthe  centre  of  the  mound,  another 
and  larger  post  or  column,  also  of  cedar,  was  found.  .  .  . 
The  location  and  regularity  of  these  posts,  and  their  position 
with  reference  to  the  central  column,  would  seem  to  show 
that  the  summit  of  the  mound  at  one  time  had  been  occu- 
pied by  some  sort  of  a  building,  possibly  a  rotunda  or  coun- 
cil-chamber, as  the  ground  plan  answers  to  the  description 
of  one  which  Bartram  found  in  the  town  of  Cowe  on  the 
'  Tanase '  River  among  the  Cherokees,  the  very  people  who 
formerly  held  all  this  section  of  country." 

In  the  mound,  and  within  the  circle  of  posts,  several 
skeletons  were  found  placed  irregularly  and  at  different 
depths,  as  in  the  case  of  the  mound  opened  by  Mr.  Reynolds. 
Mr.  Carr  further  remarks  that  "  there  were  found  scattered 
about  everywhere,  throughout  the  whole  of  the  upper  half 


THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES.  63 

of  the  excavation,  in  different  places  and  at  various  depths, 
beds  of  ashes,  burnt  earth,  and  charcoal, — usually  cedar  or 
chestnut, — sometimes  one  above  and  overlapping  the  other, 
with  an  intervening  stratum  of  earth  of  greater  or  less 
thickness." 

This  is  an  important  and  interesting  fact  in  comparing 
the  works  of  the  different  sections  alluded  to. 

Indications  of  similar  structures  were  found  in  some  three 
or  four  mounds  explored  by  the  Bureau  assistants  in  East 
Tennessee.  In  one  case  the  series  of  posts  was  found  at 
considerable  depth,  showing  that  earth  had  been  added  sub- 
sequent to  its  erection. 

Adair  says  that  "every  town  has  a  large  edifice  which 
with  propriety  may  be  called  the  mountain  house  in  com- 
parison of  those  already  described.  But  the  only  difference 
between  it  and  the  winter  house  or  stove  is  in  its  dimensions 
and  application.  It  is  usually  built  on  the  topof  a  hill,  and 
in  that  separate  and  imperial  state-house  the  old  beloved  men 
and  head  warriors  meet  on  material  business,  or  to  divert 
themselves  and  feast  and  dance  with  the  rest  of  the 
people." 

The  winter  houses  referred  to  were,  according  to  his  state- 
ment, made  as  follows:  a  suflBcient  number  of  strong, 
forked  posts  were  fixed  deep  in  the  ground  '"atapropor 
tional  distance,  in  a  circular  form,  all  of  an  equal  height, 
about  five  or  six  feet  above  the  surface  of  the  ground ;  above 
these  they  tie  large  pieces  of  the  heart  of  white  oak.  .  .  . 
In  the  middle  of  the  fabric  they  fix  very  deep  in  the  ground 
four  large  pine  posts  in  a  quadrangular  form." 

According  to  Mr.  Mooney, — who  has  furnished  the  writer 
with  some  particulars  on  the  subject  in  addition  to  what  are 
found  in  his  paper  heretofore  mentioned, — on  account  of  the 
sanctity  attached  to  the  location  in  the  minds  of  the  people, 
a  new  town-house  was  usually  built  upon  the  site  of  the  old 
one.     The  Cherokee  town-houses  were  necessarily  located  in 


64  THE  CHEROKEES  IX  PRE-COLUMBIAN   TIMES. 

the  immediate  vicinity  of  a  stream,  and  where  there  was 
about  it  a  level  area.  The  reasons  for  this  were  (1)  that  the 
dances  were  held  around  and  about  these  public  houses,  fre- 
quently beginning-  inside,  and  ending  on  the  level  area 
around  them;  and  (2)  ceremonial  bathing  formed  an  im- 
portant part  of  the  proceedings  connected  with  their  sacred 
dances,  such  as  the  green-corn  dance  and  the  medicine 
dance,  where  the  whole  body  of  the  performers  came  out  of 
the  town-house  to  the  water,  and,'  after  certain  ablutions, 
returned  thereto.  It  was  necessary,  therefore,  that  the 
building  should  be  near  a  stream.  As  the  level  -areas  in 
their  narrow  mountain  valleys  are  often  overflowed,  it  is 
quite  probable  that  in  order  to  place  these  sacred  houses 
above  the  floods,  they  were,  as  stated  in  tradition,  located  on 
artificial  mounds.  ''Moreover,"  adds  Mr.  Mooney,  "the 
town-house  was  the  depository  of  numerous  ceremonial  ob- 
jects which  could  not  readily  be  removed  in  a  sudden  emer- 
gency. And,  as  it  is  said  traditionally  that  a  sacred  fire 
was  kept  burning  on  a  peculiar  hearth  excavated  in  the  cen- 
tre of  the  earthen  floor,  this  could  not  be  removed  from  the 
hearth-place,  and  hence  some  provision  for  its  protection  was 
necessary." 

Whatever  may  be  the  opinion  entertained  in  regard  to  the 
relation  of  the  mound-builders  of  the  different  sections  to 
each  other,  or  be  thought  of  Mr.  Mooney's  suggestions,  it 
must  be  admitted  that  the  above  statement  gives  a  satisfac- 
tory reason  for  placing  the  pyramidal  mound  of  the  Baum 
Works,  Ohio,  on  the  lower  level  near  the  creek,  rather  than 
on  the  higher  level  occupied  by  the  square  and  circle. 

In  confirmation  of  Mr.  Mooney's  statement,  we  find  the 
following  in  Adair's  "History."  Speaking  of  the  Chero- 
kees,  he  says,  "  Their  towns  are  always  close  to  some  river 
or  creek,  as  there  the  land  is  commonly  very  level  and  fer- 
tile, on  account  of  the  frequent  washings  off  the  mountains, 
and   the   moisture   it   receives    from   the   waters   that   run 


THE   CHEROKEES   IN   PRE-COLUMBIAN   TIMES.  65 

through  their  fields.  And  such  a  situation  enables  them  to 
perform  the  ablutions  connected  with  their  religious  worship." 

Another  i^espect  in  which  the  Kanawha  works  resemble 
those  of  Ohio  is  the  presence  among*  them  of  enclosures,  some 
of  which  are  approximately  true  circles.  There  is  also 
among  the  former  a  true  "hill-fort,"  located  on  the  top  of  a 
bold  and  partially  isolated  headland,  overlooking  the  valley 
for  some  miles  up  and  down  the  river. 

We  have  now,  as  before  stated,  travelled  back  aloag  the 
path  of  migration  to  the  Ohio  region,  the  mound  testimony 
agreeing  substantially  at  every  step  with  the  traditions.  As 
we  now  enter  a  well-known  field  which  has  been  somewhat 
thoroughly  cultivated  by  archaeologists,  and  which  is  con- 
sidered, in  the  minds  of  many  antiquarians,  sacred  ground, 
we  are  aware  that  we  must  move  with  cautious  steps,  as  any 
attempt  to  bring  forward  a  new  theory  in  regard  to  the 
ancient  works  of  this  region  is  attended  with  more  than  ordi- 
nary risk.  It  will  therefore  be  appropriate  to  introduce  at 
this  point  some  general  considerations  which  have  a  bearing 
on  the  questions  at  issue. 

One  result  of  the  more  recent  explorations  and  study  of 
the  ancient  works  of  the  mound  region  is  the  conviction  that 
the  mound-builders  were  divided  into  numerous  tribes, 
though  belonging  substantially  to  the  same  culture  state, 
which  was  of  a  lower  grade  than  that  attained  by  the  people 
of  Mexico  and  Central  America,  and  apparently  somewhat 
less  advanced  than  that  of  the  Pueblo  tribes  of  New  Mexico 
and  Arizona.  However,  there  are  no  data  to  justify  the  be- 
lief that  they  pertained  to  different  "races,"  using  this  term 
in  its  broad  and  legitimate  sense.  This  assertion  will,  of 
course,  be  questioned  by  some  of  our  archaeologists  who  base 
their  conclusions  in  reference  to  this  subject  on  the  forms  of 
the  skulls.  Without  entering  into  a  discussion  of  this  ques- 
tion, which  would  draw  too  heavily  on  our  space,  and  is  not 
appropriate  at  this  point,  it  may  be  asserted,  with  the  assur- 


66  THE   CHEROKEES   IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN   TIMES. 

ance  of  being  sustained  by  the  facts,  that  the  study  of  the 
forms  of  mound-builders'  skulls  has  not  been  productive  of 
any  satisfactory  results  bearing  upon  the  question  of  races 
or  nationality.  This  is  shown  by  the  remarks  of  Mr.  Lucien 
Carr,  in  his  paper  on  the  "Crania  from  Stone  Graves  in 
Tennessee,"  published  in  the  "Eleventh  Annual  Report  of 
the  Peabody  Museum:" — 

"Names,  however,  are  of  but  little  import:  the  one  cen- 
tral fact  is  to  be  found  in  the  presence  in  these  graves  of 
skulls,  which,  after  excluding  those  tabulated  as  distorted  or 
much  flattened,  are  shown  by  their  measurements  to  belong 
to  the  two  extremes  of  classification,  and  which  cannot  be 
brought  into  the  same  group  without  doing  violence  to  all 
ideas  of  craniology.  If  the  terms  'dolichocephalism'  and 
'brachycephalism'  mean  any  thing,  then  these  two  forms  of 
skulls  are  to  be  found  here,  and  there  is  no  method  of  meas- 
urement sufficiently  elastic  to  include  them  both  under  one 
head.  This  fact  is  by  no  means  new  or  novel,  though  it  has 
not  been  many  years  since  Dr.  Morton  and  anthropologists 
of  his  school  stoutly  maintained  the  uniform  brachycephalic 
type  of  crania  among  all  the  American  aborigines  except  the 
Eskimo.  Of  late  years,  however,  the  contrary  opinion,  so 
ably  advocated  by  Dr.  D.  Wilson,  has  been  steadily  gaining 
ground,  and  to-day  there  is  little  hazard  in  saying  that  it  is 
generally  received.  But  the  evidence  furnished  by  this  col- 
lection seems  to  lead  still  farther;  and  we  are  required  not 
only  to  admit  the  existence  of  different  forms  of  skulls,  as 
there  well  might  be  in  different  tribes,  but  also  to  conclude 
that  they  are  to  be  found  among  the  same  people  or  peoples 
living  under  the  same  tribal  organization,  much  after  the 
fashion  in  which  they  are  to-day  known  to  exist  among  the 
composite  peoples  of  our  great  commercial  cities.  This  is 
hardly  in  accord  with  the  opinion  generally  held  as  to  the 
purity  of  race  in  prehistoric  times ;  but  it  seems  impossible 
to  avoid  the  conclusion,  if  it  be  admitted  that  the  fact  that 


THE  CHEROKEES  IN   PRE   COLUMBIAN   TlilES.  67 

these  skulls  were  found  buried  together  indiscriminately  in 
the  same  style  or  set  of  graves  in  the  same  mound,  and  so 
far  as  we  can  judge  at  or  near  the  same  time,  is  any  proof 
that  they  belonged  to  people  of  the  same  tribe  and  race." 

It  will  be  seen  from  this  conclusion  of  one  best  qualified 
to  express  an  opinion  on  this  subject,  that  a  classification  of 
the  mound-builders  upon  the  forms  of  the  skulls  is  not  only 
unsatisfactory,  but  is  misleading  and  valueless.  That  the 
people  found  inhabiting  the  continent  at  the  time  of  the  Co- 
lumbian discovery  may  have  been,  and  probably  were,  de- 
rived from  different  races,  is  not  denied.  Possibly  the 
mound-builders  of  the  section  herein  designated  the  "mound 
region*'  may  have  been  derived  from  different  races;  but,  if 
so,  this  cannot  be  determined  by  the  crania  found  in  the 
mounds  of  the  Mississippi  valley.  Indications  of  tribal  pe- 
culiarities, of  variations  in  local  customs  depending  on  en- 
vironment, and  perhaps  traces  even  of  customs  peculiar  to 
certain  stocks  or  families,  are  observed  in  the  ancient  works 
of  the  region  indicated,  but  nothing  whatever  to  suggest 
different  races.  This  is  a  bold  and  venturous  statement  to 
make,  in  view  of  what  has  been  published  on  this  subject; 
nevertheless  the  writer  feels  justified  in  making  it,  and  be- 
lieves that  the  data,  when  thoroughly  studied,  will  sustain 
him. 

The  evidence  of  division  into  tribes  is  found  in  the  nu- 
merous indications  of  intertribal  warfare,  such  as  the  works 
of  defence  of  various  kinds  met  with  in  different  sections. 
For  instance,  there  are  the  hill-forts  of  Ohio,  of  which  Fort 
Ancient  is  a  well-known  example.  No  one  has  ever  doubted 
that  these  were  constructed  for  defence.  Nor  is  it  likely  the 
other  enclosures,  such  as  the  circles,  squares,  and  octagons, 
would  have  been  ascribed  to  any  other  object  but  for  the 
introduction  of  the  theory  of  a  semi-civilized,  mound-build- 
ing race,  with  its  priesthood  and  religious  ceremonies.  As- 
sume that  the  authors  were  the  ancestors  of  the  Indian  tribes 


68  THE   CPIEROKEES   IN   PRE-COLUMBIAN   TIMES. 

found  inhabiting  the  country,  and  the  idea  of  this  overpow- 
ering religious  influence  vanishes  at  once.  The  enclosures 
of  New  York,  Michigan,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  south  eastern 
Missouri,  and  the  Gulf  States,  are  admitted  to  be  defensive 
works.  In  addition  to  these,  there  are  in  many  places  de- 
fensive walls  and  embankments  across  projecting  spurs,  pe- 
ninsulas, and  river  bends.  Village  sites  are  also  often  found 
in  positions  which  could  have  been  selected  for  no  conceiva- 
ble reason  except  that  they  might  be  easily  defended  against 
attack. 

The  only  reasonable  explanation  of  these  facts,  and  of  the 
evidences  of  diflPerent  customs  found  in  the  mounds,  is  that 
the  mound-builders  consisted  of  different  tribes.  Even  in 
the  comparatively  limited  area  of  Ohio  are  found  abundant 
evidences  of  the  presence  of  different  tribes,  and  of  succes- 
sive occupation  by  different  peoples.  The  same  thing  is  true 
also  of  the  areas  embraced  in  eastern  Iowa,  Wisconsin,  Illi- 
nois, Indiana,  and  Kentucky;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  wes- 
tern New  York,  a  strip  along  the  lake  border  of  Ohio,  and 
the  Cherokee  region  of  East  Tennessee  and  western  North 
Carolina,  appear  to  be  exceptions  to  this  rule. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

As  the  connection  indicated  between  the  works  of  the 
Kanawha  valley  and  those  of  Ohio  relates  primarily  to  the 
sepulchral  and  so-called  "  sacrificial  mounds,"  and  second- 
arily to  the  geometric  enclosures  of  the  type  found  in  the 
Scioto  valley,  attention  is  called  to  the  latter. 

Forty  years  ago,  Messrs.  Squier  and  Davis,  while  admit- 
ting that  some  of 'the  enclosures  of  this  State  were  built  for 
defence,  advanced  the  theory  that  a  large  number  of  the 
earth- works  were  designed  for  sacred  or  religious  purposes, 
and  places  for  performing  superstitious  rites, — a  view  which 
has  generally  been  adopted  by  subsequent  writers.  That 
this  theory  was  based  upon  a  preconceived  notion  held  by 
these  authors,  is  apparent  from  the  following  statement  in 
"  Ancient  Monuments :  "  "We  have  reason  to  believe  that 
the  religious  system  of  the  mound-builders,  like  that  of  the 
Aztecs,  exercised  among  them  a  great,  if  not  a  controlling, 
influence.  Their  government  may  have  been,  for  aught  we 
know,  a  government  of  the  priesthood, — one  in  which  the 
priestly  and  civil  functions  were  jointly  exercised,  and  one 
sufficiently  powerful  to  have  secured  in  the  Mississippi  val- 
ley, as  it  did  in  Mexico,  the  erection  of  many  of  those  vast 
monuments  which  for  ages  will  continue  to  challenge  the 
wonder  of  men." 

69 


70  THE  CHEROKEES  IN   PRE-COLUiIBIA.N   TIMES. 

Dr.  Daniel  Wilson  not  only  takes  the  same  view  in  his 
"Prehistoric  Man,"  but  expands  and  emphasizes  it.  He 
even  goes  so  far  as  to  assert  that  the  earth-works  of  the 
Iroquois  present,  in  some  respects,  a  greater  contrast  to 
those  of  the  mound-builders  (of  Ohio)  than  the  latter  do  to 
the  elaborate  architecture  of  Mexico  and  Yucatan.  "They 
form  groups,"  he  continues,  "of  symmetrical  enclosures, 
square,  circular,  elliptical,  and  octagonal,  with  long  connect- 
ing avenues  suggesting  comparisons  with  the  British  Ave- 
bury,  or  the  Hebrideau  Callernish ;  with  the  Breton  Carnac, 
or  even  with  the  temples  and  sphinx  avenues  of  the  Egyp- 
tian Karnak  and  Luxor." 

If  we  lay  aside  all  preconceived  notions  of  a  highly  cul- 
tured race  of  mound-builders  with  a  priestly  hierarchy,  and 
study  these  remains  in  the  light  of  such  data  as  we  possess, 
instead  of  looking  at  them  through  the  halo  of  a  finely 
wrought  theory,  the  inappropriateness  of  such  comparisons 
becomes  apparent.  What  shall  we  say  of  the  attempt  to 
compare  the  dirt  walls  of  these  groups  of  combined  circles 
and  squares  with  the  great  temple  of  Karuak,  termed  by 
Fergusson  "  the  noblest  effort  of  architectural  magnificence 
ever  produced  by  the  hand  of  man  "?  of  likening  the  simple 
earthen  parallels,  thrown  up  perhaps  with  wooden  spades, 
to  the  avenue  of  crio  sphinxes,  and  the  magnificent,  columned 
hall  of  the  Egyptian  temple  ?  In  what  respect  do  these 
earth-works  of  the  mound-builders  resemble  the  palace  at 
Palenque,  or  Casa  del  Gobernador  and  House  of  the  Nuns  at 
Uxmal?  It  is  only  necessary  to  put  the  question:  the  reply 
is  self-evident.  Yet  the  writer  just  quoted,  who  may  be 
taken  as  the  leading  representative  of  the  school  to  which  he 
belongs,  sees,  in  some  respects,  less  contrast  between  these 
two  classes  of  structures  than  between  the  earth- works  of  the 
Iroquois  and  those  of  the  mound- builders  of  Ohio. 

Omitting,  perhaps,  a  dozen  geometrical  works,  the  enclos- 
ures of  Ohio,  New  York,   and  other  sections,  are  admitted 


I 


THE   CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN   TIMES.  71 

to  be  for  defensive  purposes,  and  are  of  a  character  conform- 
able to  savage  life.  And  in  reply  to  Dr.  Wilson  it  may  be 
truly  affirmed,  that  if  we  compare  the  larger  work  on  Plate 
XIX.  of  "  Ancient  Monuments  '' — which  is  in  the  immediate 
vicinity  of  the  celebrated  "  Mound  City,"  Ross  County,  O. — 
with  that  on  Plate  II.  of  Squier's  "Aboriginal  Monuments 
of  New  York,"  the  similarity  is  so  marked  (except  in  size) 
that  one  might  be  substituted  for  the  other  without  bringing 
into,  or  omitting  from,  the  former  group  any  important  char- 
acter. Yet  here  is  what  was  considered  by  the  authors  of 
"  Ancient  Monuments  "  pre-eminently  the  sacred  or  religious 
city  of  the  Ohio  mound-builders;  and,  what  is  worthy  of 
mention,  the  accompanying  enclosure,  so  like  that  of  New 
York,  has  a  central  mound,  which  was  examined  by  Messrs. 
Squier  and  Davis,  and  pronounced  by  them  "  clearly  a  place 
of  sacrifice." 

A  number  of  such  general  resemblances  between  the 
works  of  the  two  sections  could  be  pointed  out;  yet  it  is  ad- 
mitted that  the  two  classes  of  remains  bear  evidence  of  being 
the  works  of  ditferent  tribes,  but  not  of  different  races,  or  of 
peoples  in  such  widely  different  culture  states  as  to  justify 
Dr.  Wilson's  extravagant  statement. 

The  complicated  group,  consisting  of  circles,  a  square,  octa- 
gon, and  parallels,  at  Newark  is  unquestionably  the  most  noted, 
as  well  as  the  most  extensive,  of  its  class  in  the  mound  section. 
As  these  cover  an  area  estimated  at  two  miles  square,  what, 
it  may  well  be  asked,  must  be  the  estimate  of  the  size  and 
population  of  the  village  that  required  such  an  extensive 
system  of  works  devoted  to  religious  services  and  supersti- 
tious rites  ?  The  great  circle  at  Avebury,  England,  the  most 
extensive  of  the  so-called  druidical  structures  of  Europe, 
embraces  only  about  thirty-six  acres ;  while  here  is  an  octa- 
gon enclosing  fifty  acres,  one  circle  including  twenty, 
another  thirty,  and  a  square  embracing  twenty  acres.  The 
race-track,  buildings,  and  other  appurtenances  of  the  Fair 


73  THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES. 

Association  of  a  county  containing  probably  a  hundred 
thousand  inhabitants  are  enclosed  in  a  single  one  of  these 
circles.  If  these  were  but  places  where  games  were  held 
and  religious  ceremonies  performed,  where  are  we  to  find 
the  indications  of  the  immense  village  that  required  such 
vast  amphitheatres  ? 

It  is  remarkably  strange  that  the  mound-builders  of  cen- 
tral and  southern  Ohio  alone,  of  all  the  ancient  peoples  of 
the  mound  region,  should  erect  such  extensive  structures 
devoted  to  religious  observances ;  that  here  alone  the  priestly 
influence  should  have  been  sufiiciently  powerful  to  produce 
such  results.  How  is  the  development  of  this  sacerdotal 
element  in  this  limited  area  to  be  accounted  for? 

It  is  true  that  a  few  of  these  enclosures  are  remarkably 
correct  geometrical  figures,  and  present  a  puzzling  question 
to  the  archaeologist;  but  the  usual  explanation,  that  the 
authors  were  a  people  in  a  much  higher  state  of  culture 
than  the  Indians,  serves  but  to  increase  the  difficulty.  On 
the  one  hand,  it  is  only  necessary  to  suppose  that  they  were 
built  for  defence,  and  that  the  Indians  of  a  certain  tribe  and 
era  had  learned  the  art  of  laying  off  correctly  circles  of 
large  size,  and  the  problem  is  solved.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  supposition  of  a  highly  cultured  race,  capable  of 
forming  these  figures  by  means  not  within  the  reach  or  capa- 
city of  the  more  advanced  Indians,  introduces  a  host  of  still 
more  troublesome  questions.  That  the  ancient  works  of  the 
Southern  States  and  of  New  York  are  to  be  ascribed  to  the 
Indians,  is  too  clearly  established  by  historical  and  other 
evidence  to  be  longer  denied ;  and  it  is  even  admitted,  that 
associated  with  the  prehistoric  monuments  of  the  valleys  of 
the  Muskingum,  the  Scioto,  Brush  Creek,  the  Little  Miami 
and  Big  Miami,  are  mounds  and  works  of  later  times,  some 
of  which  were  made  by  the  historic  tribes  or  their  immediate 
ancestors.  Notwithstanding  this  supposition  of  a  much 
earlier  occupation  by  a  veritable  mound-building  people  of 


THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES.  73 

advanced  culture,  there  are  works  here  ascribed  to  this  peo- 
ple which  present  no  indications  of  greater  age  than  some 
of  those  attributed  to  Indians.  How  is  this  to  be  accounted 
for  on  the  latter  theory? 

The  fact,  well  known  to  all  archaeologists,  that  minor 
works  of  art  are  found  in  these  typical  monuments  of  the  same 
character  as  those  obtained  from  mounds  attributable  to  the 
Indians,  presents  another  question  difficult  to  answer  on 
this  theory.  The  "Monitor'"  pipe,  or  pipe  with  broad  base 
running  out  in  front  and  behind  the  bowl,  is  considered 
typical  of  the  people  who  built  the  "sacrificial  mounds"  and 
"sacred  enclosures"  of  Ohio;  yet,  according  to  Adair,  the 
Cherokees  made  pipes  of  precisely  this  i^attern,  as  he  says 
"the  fore  part  of  each  commonly  runs  out  with  a  sharp 
peak,  two  or  three  fingers  broad  and  a  quarter  of  an  inch 
thick,  on  both  sides  of  the  bowl  lengthwise;  they  cut  several 
pictures  with  a  great  deal  of  skill  and  labour."  This  seems 
not  only  to  connect  the  builders  of  these  typical  Ohio  works 
with  the  Indians,  thus  presenting  a  difficult  problem  for  the 
advocates  of  the  above  theory  to  solve,  but  forms  another 
strong  link  in  the  chain  of  Cherokee  history  we  are  trying 
to  follow.  There  are  other  difficulties  in  the  way  of  this 
hypothesis  which  our  limited  space  will  not  permit  us  to 
present.  There  are  other  questions,  however,  relating  to 
these  enclosures,  which  require  notice  here,  as  they  have 
some  bearing  on  the  theory  advanced  in  this  paper,  and 
must  affect  to  some  extent  the  conclusions  reached. 

It  is  believed  that  the  evidence  presented  will  be  accepted 
as  sufficient  to  justify  the  supposition  that  the  Tallegwi  of 
tradition  must  be  identified  ^itli  the  Cherokees,  and  that 
they  formerly  lived  in  the  Ohio  valley.  Having  shown  that 
the  people  of  this  tribe  built  mounds  in  their  historic  seat, 
and  were  in  all  probability  the  authors  of  the  Kanawha  and 
Grave  Creek  works,  it  is  reasonable  to  conclude  that  they 
built  mounds  and  constructed  other  works  during  their  resi- 


74  THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES. 

dence  in  Ohio.  If  this  be  admitted,  their  identification  with 
the  Tallegwi  would  indicate  that,  during  their  long  contest 
with  the  Dela  wares  and  Huron -Iroquois,  they  built  defen- 
sive works,  as  it  is  stated  in  Heckewelder's  version  of  the 
tradition,  that  "the  enemy  [the  Tallegwi]  fortified  their 
large  towns  and  erected  fortifications,  especially  on  large 
rivers  and  near  lakes,  where  they  were  successively  at- 
tacked, and  sometimes  by  the  allies"  (the  Delawares  and 
Iroquois).  Although  it  is  to  be  presumed  that  this  is  some- 
what colored  to  conform  to  the  interpretation  of  the  narra- 
tor or  author,  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  Tallegwi 
erected  defensive  structures  in  order  to  resist  their  enemies. 
This  is  probably  implied  in  the  Walam-Olum,  where  it  is 
stated  that  "the  Talega  towns  were  too  strong." 

If  the  enclosures  are  defensive  works,  they  present  noth- 
ing incompatible  with  the  theory  herein  advanced,  but 
rather  tend  to  confirm  it.  Even  supposing  they  were  in- 
tended for  sacred  or  superstitious  uses,  they  must  have  been 
constructed  for  the  purpose  of  defending  the  gathered  as- 
semblies from  sudden  attack  by  enemies.  Take,  for  exam- 
ple, the  Baum  Works  shown  in  Fig.  1,  Plate  XIX.,  of  the 
"Ancient  Monuments,"  and  copied  in  our  Fig.  9.  For 
what  purpose  were  the  walls  built,  except  for  defence?  Is 
it  to  be  supposed  that  they  were  intended  solely  as  sitting- 
places  for  the  spectators?  Those  around  the  square  alone 
would  have  seated  eight  or  ten  thousand  persons,  and  the 
wall  of  the  circle  as  many  more;  yet  the  remains  present  no 
indications  of  an  extensive  village.  We  may  also  ask,  with 
good  reason,  why  one  enclosure  was  square  and  the  other 
circular,  when  the  builders  must  have  known  that  the  latter 
afforded  the  better  chance  of  observing  the  ceremonies.  Are 
we  to  assume  that  different  enclosures  were  made  for  the 
different  kinds  of  rites  and  games?  The  only  reasonable 
conclusion,  even  under  the  supposition  that  these  were 
"tabooed"  or  sacred  places,  is,  that  the  walls  were  built  for 


THE  CHEROKEES   IN   PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES. 


75 


defence,  and,  as  Atwood  judged  from  bis  discoveries,  were 
stockaded.  But  this  brings  up  tbe  inquiry,  ''Why  were  the 
sacred  grounds  enclosed,  while  the  village  remained  without 
defensive  walls?" 

Although  it  is  not  probable  that  all  the  mystery  connected 
with  these  structures  will   be  explained   away,  yet  the  sup- 


SCALE 
1000  ft.  to  TtioIl. 


FIG.    9. 


position  that  they  were  defensive  works  of  people  in  the 
same  culture  grade  as  the  Indians  simplifies  the  problem, 
and  enables  us  to  present  at  least  a  partial  explanation 
which  is  consistent  with  other  data  susceptible  of  interpreta- 
tion. 


76  THE  CHEROKEES  IN   PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES. 

Referring  again  to  the  Baum  group  shown  in  the  figure, 
what  is  more  likely  than  that  the  square  enclosed  the  village, 
and  the  circle  the  maize-field?  On  the  pyramidal  mound 
was  the  council-house,  within  and  around  which  the  cere- 
monial dances  were  held;  and  near  by  was  the  creek  in 
which  the  ablutions  were  performed.  The  council-house  in 
this  case  was  not  in  the  village;  the  latter  being  built  near 
the  hills,  contiguous  to  cool  springs  of  water,  thus  rendering 
the  distance  from  it  to  the  creek  too  great  for  the  conven- 
ience of  the  bathers.  The  writer  is  aware  that  this  expla- 
nation will  not  apply  in  full  to  all  the  enclosures  of  this 
type,  as  the  conditions  are  not  the  same  in  all  the  localities; 
and  it  is  more  than  likely  that  the  customs  of  the  villages 
varied  to  some  extent,  although  pertaining  to  the  same 
tribe.  The  probable  differences  in  the  age  of  the  villages, 
and  the  modifications  of  customs,  are  also  to  be  taken  into 
consideration ;  nevertheless  this  supposition  gives  us  a  key 
that  will  unlock  most  of  the  mystery  of  these  works.  They 
are  in  most  cases  located  near  a  stream,  and  consist  of  a 
square  or  octagon  with  its  gateways  and  protecting  mounds 
surrounding  the  village,  and  a  circle  enclosing  the  corn-field. 
As  a  rule,  the  small  circles,  which  may  have  been  places  of 
amusement  and  ceremony,  are  outside  of  the  large  enclos- 
ures. Even  at  Fort  Ancient,  which  no  one  doubts  is  a  de- 
fensive work,  the  supposed  race-track  and  principal  mounds 
are  outside,  though  the  crescent,  in  front  of  which  the  cere- 
monial rites  were  performed,  is  within  the  fort. 

In  some  cases,  as  at  the  Liberty  Township  Works  ("An- 
cient Monuments,"  Plate  XX.),  a  special  arrangement  seems 
to  have  been  made  for  this  purpose.  Here  we  see  a  connected 
third  circle,  much  smaller  than  the  other  two,  in  which  is  a 
crescent  and  mound;  there  is,  however,  a  little  exterior  cir- 
cle. We  notice  here  that  the  square  or  village  site  is  near 
the  bluff  from  whence  springs  issue. 

The  square  of  the  Seip  Works  ("Ancient  Monuments," 


THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES.  77 

No.  2,  Plate  XXI.)  and  of  that  figured  in  No.  3  (same  plate) 
are  next  the  stream,  as  there  were  no  springs  in  reach. 

The  complicated  group  at  Newark,  of  course,  presents  fea- 
tures difficult  to  explain;  but  it  is  apparent  that  there 
were  two  villages,  probably  established  at  different  times, 
but  both  occupied  from  the  time  the  latter  was  built  until 
the  whole  was  abandoned.  The  octagon  is  near  the  creek, 
but  its  position  was  doubtless  selected  on  account  of  the 
spring  near  its  northern  corner.  The  southern  circle,  E, 
was  possibly  a  place  devoted  chiefly  to  ceremonies  and 
games.  One  line  of  parallels  seems  to  have  been  a  passage- 
way from  one  village  to  another.  It  is  apparent  from  their 
courses  and  the  topographical  features  of  the  area  that  none 
of  these  guarded  ways  were  intended  for  race-tracks.  That 
the  small,  circular  enclosure  F,  known  as  the  "Observatory 
Circle,"  was  not  sufficient  in  extent  to  supply  the  villages 
with  bread,  is  admitted :  hence  it  was  necessary  to  assume 
that  there  were  unenclosed  fields,  probably  on  the  land 
north  of  the  group,  between  the  parallels  running  east  and 
west,  and  in  the  area  east  of  the  pond.  It  is  possible  that 
the  space  between  the  two  lines  of  parallels,  running  east 
and  west,  was  partially  occupied  by  dwellings,  especially 
that  portion  on  the  upper,  level  land.  These  suggestions  are 
of  course  largely  speculative;  nevertheless,  if  there  be  any 
truth  in  the  tradition  of  the  Tallegwi,  it  is  probable  that 
here  they  made  their  first  determined  stand  after  defeat  in 
open  battle.  The  people  of  other  villages,  not  enclosed,  prob- 
ably fled  thither,  and  joined  in  erecting  fortifications  and 
defensive  walls.  Be  this  as  it  may,  it  is  apparent  that  they 
belong  to  the  same  type  as  those  in  the  Scioto  and  Paint 
Creek  valleys,  and  may  be  ascribed  to  the  people  who  built 
the  latter.  That  they  were  defensive  seems  to  be  estab- 
lished by  the  considerations  presented,  and  others  which 
might  be  urged  did  space  allow  us  to  offer  them.  It  is  ap- 
parent to  any  one  not  biassed  by  a  preconceived  theory,  who 


78  THE   CHEROKEES   IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN   TIMES. 

will  study  these  works  carefully,  that  their  characteristics 
are  essentially  aboriginal:  in  other  words,  there  is  nothing 
in  their  form  or  construction  contradictory  to  the  theory  of 
their  Indian  origin,  except  it  be  the  single  fact  that  a  few  of 
them  approach  very  nearly  to  true  geometrical  figures. 
That  it  was  a  custom  among  the  Indians  north  and  south  to 
build  circular  enclosures  and  forts,  is  fully  attested  by  the 
historical  records;  it  is  also  known  that  some  of  the  Indian 
forts  in  the  northern  section  were  polygonal,  especially 
those  built  by  the  Iroquois  tribes.  Numerous  instances  can 
be  cited  where  villages  were  surrounded  by  fortifications  in 
both  these  forms. 

The  suggestion  that  the  circles  adjoining  squares  were 
built  around  maize-fields  is  not  original  with  the  writer,  as 
^  it  had  already  been  presented  by  Lewis  H.  Morgan,  in  his 
"  Houses  and  House  Life  of  the  American  Aborigines." 
He  remarks,  that  "  with  respect  to  the  large  circular  enclos- 
ures, adjacent  to  and  communicating  with  the  squares,  it  is 
not  necessary  that  we  should  know  their  object.  The  one 
attached  to  the  High  Bank  Pueblo  contains  twenty  acres  of 
land,  and  doubtless  subserved  some  useful  purpose  in  their 
plan  of  life.  The  first  suggestion  which  presents  itself  is, 
that  as  a  substitute  for  a  fence  it  surrounded  the  garden  of 
the  village  in  which  they  cultivated  their  maize,  beans, 
squashes,  and  tobacco.  At  the  Minnitaree  village  a  similar 
enclosure  may  now  be  seen  by  the  side  of  the  village,  sur- 
rounding their  cultivated  land,  consisting  partly  of  hedge 
and  partly  of  stakes."  Whether  these  dirt  walls  were  mere 
supports  to  stockades  is  a  question  not  yet  settled;  neverthe- 
less it  is  probable  they  were  surmounted  by  stakes,  or  sup- 
ported a  wooden  fence  or  screen  of  some  kind.  The  fact 
that  the  ditch  is  here  usually  on  the  inside  cuts  but  little 
6gure  in  the  discussion,  as  we  find  this  to  be  the  case  in 
many  works  which  are  undoubtedly  of  a  defensive  character, 
as  Fort  Ancient,  and  the  circular  enclosure  in  Iowa  shown 


THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES.  79 

in  Plate  II.,  "Fifth  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Eth- 
nology." In  fact,  this  was  consistent  with  the  Indian  mode 
of  warfare.  Long  tells  us,  in  the  account  of  his  expedition, 
that  sometimes  they  would  hastily  dig  a  trench,  throwing 
the  dirt  on  the  danger  side,  and  thus  form  a  defensive  bar- 
rier. 

Whether  the  hill-forts  are  to  be  attributed  to  the  authors 
of  the  circles  and  squares  is  doubtful:  in  fact,  the  indications 
appear  to  lead  to  the  opposite  conclusion.  Certainly  tliere 
is  no  reason  for  supposing  that  Fort  Ancient,  Fortified  Hill, 
and  other  works  of  this  character  in  the  Miami  valleys,  were 
built  by  this  people.  The  writer  is  inclined  to  the  belief 
that  they  are  the  work  of  the  Shawnees,  but  cannot  under- 
take at  this  time  to  give  his  reasons  for  this  opinion. 

As  the  so  called  ''altars"  form  a  link  in  this  historic 
chain,  we  may  as  well  remark  here  that  the  names  "sacrificial 
mounds"  and  "altars,"  implying  human  sacrifice,  have  been 
brought  into  use  without  even  the  shadow  of  evidence 
therefor.  As  Morgan  has  truly  observed,  "there  is  no  pro- 
priety in  the  use  of  either  of  these  terms,  or  in  the  conclu- 
sions they  would  force  us  to  adopt.  .  .  .  These  clay  beds 
were  not  adapted  to  the  barbarous  work."  Possibly  they 
may  have  been  places  where  prisoners  were  burned,  which 
was  the  chief  sacrifice  ofiPered  by  Indians.  The  basin-shaped 
clay  beds  of  the  Kanawha  and  East  Tennessee  mounds  seem 
to  have  grown  out  of  them,  and  their  uses  were  probably 
gimilar. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

The  close  agreement  between  the  testimony  of  the  mounds 
and  the  traditions  of  both  Cherokees  and  Dela wares  is  some- 
what remarkable,  and  justifies  us  in  believing  that  they  have  a 
basis  of  truth.  We  are  at  least  warranted  in  accepting  the 
theory  that  the  first-named  people  formerly  dwelt  in  Ohio, 
and  built  some  of  the  noted  monuments  of  that  State.  The 
number  and  character  of  the  defensive  works  indicate  that 
there  was  a  long  contest  and  an  obstinate  resistance  on  the 
part  of  the  original  inhabitants.  The  geographical  position 
of  these  works  makes  it  apparent,  as  has  often  been  remarked 
by  writers  on  this  subject,  that  there  was  a  pressure  by 
northern  hordes  which  finally  resulted  in  driving  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  fertile  valleys  of  the  Scioto  and  Muskingum 
southward.  Some  of  these  writers  take  it  for  granted  that 
they  fled  through  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  into  the  Gulf 
States,  and  became  incorporated  with  the  tribes  of  that  sec- 
tion. If  this  be  assumed  as  correct,  it  only  tends  to  con- 
firm the  theory  of  an  Indian  origin. 

A  study,  however,  of  the  pipes  alone,  makes  it  evident  that 
this  conclusion  cannot  be  maintained.  That  the  mound- 
builders  of  Ohio  made  and  used  pipes  is  proven  by  the  large 
number  found  in  the  tumuli,  and  that  they  cultivated  to- 

80 


THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TBEES.  81 

bacco  may  reasonably  be  inferred  from  this  fact.  Although 
varied  indefinitely  by  the  addition  of  animal  and  other  fig- 
ures, the  typical  or  simple  form  in  use  among  them  appears 
to  have  been  that  known  at  present  as  the  "Monitor"  pipe, 
shown  in  Fig.  68,  "Ancient  Monuments,"  and  Fig.  177, 
Rau's  "  Archaeological  Collection  of  the  National  Museum." 
The  peculiar  feature  is  the  broad,  flat,  and  slightly  curved 
base  or  stem,  which  projects  in  front  of  the  bowl  to  an  ex- 
tent equal  to  the  perforated  end.  This  form  is  so  peculiar 
that  it  must  be  considered  ethnic  or  local.  However,  as  will 
be  seen  by  reference  to  the  ""  Proceedings  of  the  Davenport 
Academy  of  Natural  Sciences"  and  the  " Smithsonian  Re- 


PIG.  10. 

port  for  1882,"  it  is  found  in  eastern  Iowa  and  northern 
Illinois,  and  appears  to  be  the  only  form  found  in  that  re- 
gion :  hence  it  cannot  be  considered  local. 

Now,  it  is  somewhat  remarkable  that  nearly  all  the  pipes 
of  this  form  and  the  modifications  thereof,  ending  in  the 
modem  form  shown  in  Fig.  6,  are  found  in  a  belt  com- 
mencing in  eastern  Iowa,  running  thence  through  northern 
Illinois,  eastern  Indiana,  southern  Ohio,  and  thence  bending 
south  through  Kanawha  valley,  and  ending  in  western  North 
Carolina.  The  first  modification  is  seen  in  Fig.  8,  and 
found  in  Ohio,  the  Kanawha  valley,  and  North  Carolina; 
the  second,  shown  in  Fig.  10,  is  found  in  Ohio  and   the 


83  THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES. 

Cherokee  district;  the  third,  shown  in  Fig.  5,  is  found  in 
East  Tennessee;  and  the  last,  shown  in  Fig.  6,  is  found  in 
the  North  Carolina  mounds. 

Although  specimens,  chiefly  of  the  first  modification,  have 
been  discovered  in  New  York  and  Massachusetts,  it  is  not 
known  that  the  "  Monitor  "  or  any  of  its  manifest  modifica- 
tions prevailed,  or  was  even  in  use,  at  any  point  south 
of  the  belt  mentioned.  Pipes  in  the  form  of  birds  and  other 
animals  are  not  uncommon,  as  may  be  seen  by  reference  to 
Plate  XXIII.  of  Jones's  "Antiquities  of  the  Southern  In- 
dians;" but  the  platform  is  a  feature  wholly  unknown  in 
the  Gulf  States  or  middle  Tennessee,  as  are  also  the  deriva- 
tives from  it. 

This  fact  stands  in  direct  opposition  to  the  theory  that  the 
mound-builders  of  Ohio  fled  southward  across  Kentucky  and 
Tennessee,  and  became  incorporated  with  the  tribes  of  the 
Southern  States,  as  it  is  scarcely  possible  that  such  sturdy 
smokers  as  they  must  have  been,  would  have  abandoned 
all  at  once  their  favorite  pipe.  The  change,  as  it  was  in  the 
other  direction,  would  have  been  gradual.  This  evidence, 
however,  has  a  very  significant  bearing  on  another  point; 
for,  if  the  testimony  introduced  justifies  the  theory  advanced 
in  this  paper,  then  it  is  probable  the  Cherokees  entered  the 
immediate  valley  of  the  Mississippi  from  the  north-west, 
striking  it  in  the  region  of  Iowa.  This  supposition  is  strongly 
corroborated,  not  only  by  the  presence  of  the  "Monitor" 
pipe  and  its  derivatives  along  the  belt  designated,  but  also 
by  the  structure  and  contents  of  many  of  the  mounds  found 
along  the  Mississippi  in  the  region  of  eastern  Iowa  and 
western  Illinois.  So  striking  is  this  resemblance,  that  it  has 
been  remarked  by  explorers  whose  opinions  could  not  have 
been  biassed  by  this  theory. 

Mr.  William  McAdams,  in  an  address  to  the  American 
Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  remarks  that 
"mounds  such  as  are  here  described,  in  the  American  hot- 


THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUSIBIAN  TIMES.  83 

toms  and  low  lands  of  Illinois,  are  seldom  found  on  the 
bluffs.  On  the  rich  bottom-lands  of  the  Illinois  River, 
within  fifty  miles  of  its  mouth,  I  have  seen  great  numbers 
of  them,  and  examined  several.  The  people  who  built  them 
were  probably  connected  with  the  Ohio  mound-builders, 
although  in  this  vicinity  they  seem  not  to  have  many  earthen 
embankments  or  walls  enclosing  areas  of  land,  as  is  com- 
mon in  Ohio.  Their  manner  of  burial  was  similar  to  the 
Ohio  mound-builders,  however,  and  in  this  particular  they 
had  customs  similar  to  mound-builders  of  Europe."  Two 
mounds  in  Calhoun  County,  111.,  one  of  which  was  opened 
by  Mr.  McAdams  and  the  other  by  one  of  the  Bureau  assist- 
ants, presented  the  clay  mass  in  the  regular  form  of  the 
Ohio  "altar."  But  what  is  strange,  though  not  without 
parallel,  is  the  fact  that  we  find  the  structure  and  contents 
of  some  of  the  eastern  Iowa  mounds  similar  to  what  is  seen 
in  the  Cherokee  district  of  North  Carolina  and  East  Tennes- 
see. Here,  among  other  things,  are  seen  the  cubical  jjiles 
or  "altars"  of  unhewn  stone  with  bones  about  them,  pre- 
cisely as  found  in  some  of  the  North  Carolina  burial-places, 
pottery  bearing  a  strong  resemblance  to  that  of  Ohio,  and 
mounds  with  stone  strata.  A  mound  in  Franklin  County, 
Ind.,  described  and  figured  by  Mr.  Homsher  in  the  "Smith- 
sonian Report  for  1882,"  presents  features  strongly  resem- 
bling those  observed  in  tumuli  attributed  to  the  Cherokees. 
Here  we  see  the  rectangular  heaps  of  cobblestones  like  those 
in  the  North  Carolina  mounds,  and  stratification  and  ar- 
rangement of  skeletons  as  in  the  East  Tennessee  mounds, 
also  the  stone  stratum  observed  in  the  Iowa  works. 

Having  now  traced  the  tribe  back  to  the  western  boundary 
of  the  mound  region,  we  are  prepared  to  take  a  glance 
downward  along  the  line  of  migration,  bridging  by  deduc- 
tion such  breaks  as  appear  in  the  testimony. 

According  to  the  data  presented,  we  find  them  first  on  the 
west  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  a  tribe  of  comparatively  lim- 


84  THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES. 

ited  numbers,  slowly  extending  their  settlements  or  shifting 
up  or  down  the  stream  between  the  mouth  of  the  Des  Moines 
River  and  what  is  now  the  northern  boundary  of  Iowa.  If 
we  may  judge  by  their  works,  it  would  seem  that  it  was 
necessary  only  at  this  northern  point  of  their  extension  to 
fortify  against  enemies.  A  suggestion  as  to  who  these  ene- 
mies were  will  be  offered  a  little  further  on.  It  is  impossi- 
ble to  give  any  satisfactory  estimate  of  the  length  of  time 
they  occupied  this  locality;  it  was  long  enough,  however, 
for  them  to  acquire  certain  peculiar  customs,  some  of  which 
were  not  wholly  dropped  until  they  came  into  contact  with 
the  whites  many  centuries  later.  It  is  possible  that  here 
they  began  to  build  mounds,  but  explorations  westward  of 
this  area  have  not  been  carried  on  to  a  sufficient  extent  to 
speak  with  certainty  on  this  point.  It  was  here,  no  doubt, 
that  the  platform  pipe  with  animal  figures  came  into  use. 
The  ornamentation  of  their  pottery,  and  the  forms  of  their 
vessels,  suggest  the  possibility  of  contact  or  intercourse  with 
southern  mound-building  tribes.  There  is  also  abundance 
of  evidence  that  they  had  acquired  the  art  of  manufacturing 
cloth,  and  were  acquainted  with  copper.  The  evident  ad- 
mixture, however,  in  these  mounds,  by  intrusive  burial,  of 
articles  of  more  recent  times  with  those  of  the  original  buri- 
als, renders  it  somewhat  difficult  to  decide  positively  as  to 
the  advance  made  in  art  by  this  people  while  residing  in  this 
locality. 

After  passmg  to  the  east  side  of  the  river,  it  appears  that 
they  moved  some  distance  farther  to  the  south,  their  utmost 
limits  in  this  direction  being  in  Calhoun  County,  111.  The 
reason  for  this  may  have  been  the  presence  of  the  same  ene- 
mies who  opposed  their  northward  movement  on  the  oppo- 
site side  of  the  river.  Of  course,  without  the  knowledge  of 
all  the  mound  testimony,  any  attempt  to  descend  into  details 
of  the  movements  of  the  tribe  would  carry  us  wholly  into 
the  realms  of  speculation. 


THE  CHEROKEES   IN   PRE-COLUMBIAN   TIMES.  85 

All  that  the  mounds  teach  us  in  regard  thereto  is  the  ex- 
tent of  the  area  occupied,  and  the  encroachments  of  works 
of  other  types  which  may  or  may  not  be  contemporaneous. 

It  is  a  fact  perhaps  worthy  of  notice,  that,  while  the  re- 
mains of  the  effigy-builders  on  the  west  side  of  the  river 
reach  but  little  south  of  the  fortified  point  before  alluded  to, 
they  are  found  on  the  Illinois  side  as  far  south  as  the  lati- 
tude of  Peoria. 

Passing  on  eastward,  we  next  find  indications  of  their 
presence  in  eastern  Indiana,  whence  it  seems  they  gradu- 
ally moved  into  central  Ohio,  finding,  as  we  judge  from 
some  works  along  the  southern  border  of  their  line  of 
migration,  some  opposition.  Their  stay  in  this  attractive 
region  must  have  been  long,  and  for  most  of  the  time  a  pe- 
riod of  peace.  The  reasons  for  this  conclusion  are,  first, 
the  indications  of  the  growth  of  the  tribe,  judging  by  the 
number  of  works  and  the  statements  in  the  Delaware  tradi- 
tion, which  imply  that  it  had  spread  northward  near  to  the 
lakes;  and,  second,  the  localities  of  the  defensive  works, 
which  indicate  that  their  chief  contest  was  with  a  northern 
foe.  If  the  latter  supposition  be  correct,  it  would  seem  to 
imply  that  until  this  contest  they  had  not  found  it  necessary 
to  build  defensive  structures. 

These,  of  course,  are  speculations,  and  only  advanced  as 
such ;  but  there  is  one  thing  in  relation  to  their  removal 
from  this  region  for  which  there  appears  to  be  historical, 
traditional,  and  mound  testimony,  and  which  has  some  bear- 
ing on  the  preceding  suggestions.  This  is,  that  their  de- 
parture was  in  separate  bodies,  and  at  intervals  of  consider- 
able length. 

That  some  were  in  their  historic  seat  before  the  time  of 
De  Soto's  expedition,  and  possibly  as  early  as  the  thirteenth 
century,  has  been  shown.  On  the  other  hand,  we  have  the 
statement  of  Bishop  Ettwein,  in  a  communication  made  to 
Gen.  Washington,  that  the  last  of  them  did  not  remove 


86  THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES. 

from  the  region  of  Ohio  until  about  the  year  1700.  We  also 
find  in  the  mounds  of  Ohio  indications  of  intercourse  with 
people  residing  in  the  mountain  region  of  North  Carolina. 

It  has  been  objected,  with  some  show  of  reason,  that  the 
theory  advanced  in  this  paper  cannot  be  correct,  because 
there  are  no  such  enclosures  in  North  Carolina  and  East 
Tennessee  as  those  in  Ohio,  because  no  true  "Monitor"  pipes 
have  been  found  in  the  mountain  section,  and  because  no 
engraved  shells  have  been  found  in  the  Ohio  mounds.  The 
first  of  these  objections  has  already  been  alluded  to;  but  we 
may  add,  that  this  people  found  themselves  able,  in  their 
mountain  fastnesses,  to  protect  themselves  against  all  their 
Indian  foes  without  erecting  artificial  defences.  The  second 
objection,  as  we  have  already  shown,  is  answered  by  a  some- 
what remarkable  historical  statement  by  Adair.  When  he 
speaks  of  pipes  "full  a  span  long,  with  the  fore  part  com- 
monly running  out  with  a  short  peak,  two  or  three  fingers 
broad  and  a  quarter  of  an  inch  thick,  on  both  sides  of  the 
bowl  lengthwise,''^  he  can  refer  to  no  other  known  pipe  than 
the  "Monitor,"  or  the  very  slightly  modified  form  with 
straight  base,  found  also  in  the  Ohio  mounds.  As  the  author 
quoted  wrote  before  any  specimens  had  been  unearthed  from 
mounds,  he  must  have  seen  in  use  that  of  which  he  speaks. 
This,  we  repeat,  is  somewhat  remarkable,  and  forms  a  link 
connecting  the  Cherokees  and  mound-builders  of  Ohio  suffi- 
cient to  warrant  the  theory  here  advanced,  were  there  no 
other  evidences  bearing  on  the  question. 

The  fact  that  no  engraved  shells  bearing  designs  like 
those  found  in  North  Carolina  and  Tennessee  have  been  dis- 
covered in  Ohio  forms  no  objection  to  the  theory.  Arts  and 
customs  are  not  always  ethnical  or  tribal:  some  are  acquired 
by  contact  and  intercourse  with  other  tribes.  The  custom  of 
carving  and  wearing  these  shell  gorgets  did  not  originate 
with  the  Cherokees,  but  was  acquired  by  contact  with  other 
tribes,  after  they  had  reached  their  southern  home. 


THE  CHEKOKEES   IN   PRE-COLUMBIAN   TIMES.  87 

These  objections  do  not  militate  against  the  theory,  which 
is  established  on  too  broad  a  basis  of  facts  and  resemblances 
to  be  set  aside  by  its  failure  to  account  for  all  the  discov- 
eries made.  Investigations  in  regard  to  the  origin  and  use 
of  these  ancient  monuments  must  be  made  chiefly  by  com- 
parisons and  deductions,  as  historical  evidence  is  in  most 
cases  wanting,  and  absolute  demonstration  impossible. 

Attention  was  called  in  the  first  part  of  the  paper  to  the 
conclusion  reached  by  linguists,  that  the  language  of  this 
tribe  belongs  to  the  Huron-Iroquois  family,  thus  necessi- 
tating the  inference  that  we  must  look  to  the  same  locality 
for  the  origin  of  both.  This  throws  a  faint  ray  of  light  on 
the  history  of  our  tribe  preceding  their  arrival  on  the  banks 
of  the  Mississippi.  But  before  attempting  to  follow  this 
slender  clew,  attention  is  called  to  some  general  considera- 
tions drawn  from  a  comprehensive  study  of  the  monuments 
of  the  mound  section. 

In  entering  upon  a  discussion  of  the  routes  by  which  the 
mound-builders  came  into  this  section,  an  examination  of 
the  general  distribution  of  the  prehistoric  remains  is  neces- 
sary. At  present  we  are  concerned  only  with  what  may  be 
considered  the  boundaries  thereof.  Although  the  data  are 
not  sufficient  to  determine  these  limits  accurately,  enough 
has  been  ascertained  to  indicate  what  will  probably  be  found 
in  the  end  to  be  true. 

Limiting  the  consideration  to  what  are  usually  classed  as 
the  genuine  works  of  the  mound-builders,  the  eastern  bound- 
ary extends  from  central  New  York  along  the  Appalachian 
range  to  Virginia,  diverging  thence  south-eastward  so  as  to 
strike  the  Atlantic  coast  in  South  Carolina.  The  Gulf  coast, 
west  of  Florida,  appears  to  be  generally  bare  of  mounds 
(with  the  exception  of  shell  and  refuse  heaps)  for  some  dis- 
tance toward  the  interior.  On  the  north,  the  lakes  and 
Rainy  River  form  a  tolerably  well  defined  border,  but  west 
of  the  source  of  the  Mississippi  there  is  a  northward  exten- 


88  THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES. 

sion  into  Manitoba  which  has  not  been  fully  traced ;  yet  the 
indications  are  that  but  few  ancient  works  will  be  discovered 
north  of  the  Assiniboin  region.  Most  of  the  mounds  of  this 
section  which  have  been  explored  appear  to  be  somewhat  re- 
cent, though  others  bear  evidence  of  being  contemporaneous 
with  the  works  of  Wisconsin.  On  the  west  the  plains  ap- 
pear to  form  the  boundary  from  North  Dakota  to  Texas,  a 
line  of  recent  works  along  the  Missouri  River  forming  the 
only  exception,  so  far  as  known. 

The  statement  frequently  made,  that  the  works  of  the 
mound-builders  continue  across  Texas  into  Mexico,  appears 
to  be  without  any  foundation ;  for  up  to  the  present  time 
but  few  have  been  discovered  south  of  Red  River,  except  in 
the  eastern  part  of  Louisiana. 

So  far,  therefore,  as  the  facts  ascertained  are  concerned, 
the  distribution  of  the  works  of  the  mound-builders  affords 
but  little  evidence  on  which  to  base  a  theory  in  regard  to  the 
lines  along  which  the  authors  of  these  works  entered  the 
mound  section.  The  exceptions,  if  any,  are  to  be  found  in 
Florida  and  the  North-west.  But  this  statement  must  not 
be  taken  as  indicative  of  a  theory  held  by  the  writer,  for  he 
is  not  inclined  to  the  opinion  that  the  mound-building  ele- 
ment, except  possibly  that  of  southern  Florida,  entered 
through  this  peninsula.  Although  he  has  reached  no  set- 
tled conclusion  on  this  subject,  he  has  been  inclined  to  look 
more  to  the  north-west  and  west  for  the  lines  of  immigration 
than  elsewhere,  but  freely  confesses  that  he  finds  but  little 
in  the  works  along  the  border  on  which  to  base  any  theory. 

While  this  is  true  considering  the  section  as  a  whole  in  its 
relation  to  the  other  comprehensive  archaeological  divisions 
of  the  continent,  there  are,  on  the  other  hand,  decided  indi- 
cations of  movements  within  the  mound  section. 

The  works  of  the  effigy-mound  district,  confined  chiefly  to 
the  southern  half  of  Wisconsin  and  the  immediately  adjoin- 
ing sections,  are  peculiar,  and  formed  a  puzzling  factor  to 


THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES.  89 

those  holding  the  theory  of  one  great  nation  of  mound- 
builders.  The  study  of  these  appears  to  lead  all  those  who 
have  devoted  attention  to  them  to  the  conviction  that  the 
more  elaborate  forms,  are,  as  a  rule,  older  than  the  simpler 
ones. 

Following  up  the  slight  clew  thus  afforded,  and  using  the 
faint  rays  of  light  thrown  on  the  history  of  the  builders  by 
the  distribution  of  the  mounds,  we  are  led  to  believe  that 
their  entrance  into  the  district  was  most  likely  at  its  south- 
western corner,  about  what  is  now  the  north-eastern  part  of 
Iowa,  and  that  the  area  longest  occupied  was  the  south- 
western portion  of  Wisconsin.  The  indications  are,  that 
they  shifted  back  and  forth  between  the  Mississippi  River 
and  Lake  Michigan,  and  finally  made  their  exit  at  the  north- 
western boundary  of  the  State,  a  part  going  as  far  north  as 
southern  Manitoba.  From  there  they  at  length  passed 
southward  into  Dakota,  where  the  mounds  fade  out,  and  the 
presence  of  the  descendants  of  the  builders— who,  we  are  in- 
clined to  believe,  pertain  to  the  Dakotan  stock — is  indicated 
only  by  surface  figures 

Another  movement,  traced  by  certain  classes  of  works  and 
vestiges  of  art  which  we  ascribe  to  the  ancestors  of  the 
Cherokees,  was  that  already  mentioned,  extending  from  east- 
ern Iowa  through  Illinois,  Indiana,  Ohio,  and  West  Vir- 
ginia, to  the  mountain  region  of  North  Carolina  and  East 
Tennessee. 

A  third  line  is  indicated  by  certain  types  of  prehistoric  re- 
mains extending  from  Michigan,  along  the  southern  shore 
of  Lake  Erie,  into  New  York;  but  nothing  has  been  found 
in  these  remains  by  which  to  determine  the  direction  of  the 
movement.  There  is  little  doubt,  however,  that  the  works 
along  this  line  are  attributable  to  one  or  more  tribes  of  the 
Huron  Iroquois  family. 

Another  class  of  works  forms  an  irregular  line  extending 
from  southern  Illinois,  through  Kentucky  and  middle  Ten- 


90  THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES. 

nessee,  to  the  north-east  corner  of  Georgia;  the  area  of  chief 
occupation,  and  position  of  longest  quietude,  being  that  por- 
tion of  the  Cumberland  valley  in  middle  Tennessee.  The 
works  along  this  belt,  which  we  attribute  to  the  Shawnees, 
consist  chiefly  of  stone  graves  of  a  particular  type,  and 
mounds;  they  fail,  however,  to  give  any  satisfactory  evi- 
dence as  to  the  direction  of  the  movement.  Nevertheless 
there  are,  along  portions  of  the  line,  some  evidences  of  a 
shifting  back  and  forth ;  and  the  minor  vestiges  of  art  prove 
beyond  question  that  the  authors  were  contemporaneous 
with  the  builders  of  the  mounds  of  East  Tennessee  and 
North  Carolina. 

Although  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi  are  lined  with  pre- 
historic monuments  from  Lake  Pepin  to  the  mouth  of  Red 
River,  showing  that  this  was  a  favorite  section  to  the  an- 
cient inhabitants,  yet  a  study  of  these  remains  does  not  give 
support  to  the  theory  that  this  great  water  highway  was  a 
line  of  migration  during  the  mound-building  age,  except  for 
short  distances.  It  was,  no  doubt,  a  highway  of  traffic  and 
war-parties,  but  the  movements  of  tribes  were  across  rather 
than  up  and  down  it.  We  do  not  assert  this  as  a  theory  or 
simple  deduction,  but  as  a  fact  proven  by  the  mounds,  what- 
ever may  be  the  theory  in  regard  to  their  origin  or  uses. 
The  longest  stretch,  where  those  apparently  the  work  of  one 
people  are  found  on  one  bank,  is  that  from  Dubuque  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Des  Moines.  As  we  move  up  and  down,  we 
find  repeated  changes  from  one  type  to  another.  In  addi- 
tion to  this,  are  the  intermingling  of  other  types,  and  indica- 
tions in  most  places  of  successive  occupation  by  difiFerent 
tribes.  It  is  a  very  natural  supposition  that  the  people  first 
reaching  the  bank  of  this  broad  stream,  or  of  any  of  the  other 
large  streams  of  our  country,  would  continue  their  course 
along  it,  but  the  mounds  give  no  support  to  the  theory. 

A  study  of  this  subject  ought  to  lead  us  to  the  proper  con- 
clusion, for  it  is  evident  that  the  natural  condition  of   a 


THE  CHEROKEES  IN   PRE  COLUMBIAN   TIMES.  91 

mound-building  people  is  one  of  permanency:  hence  their 
movements  are  governed  largely  by  pressure  from  other 
tribes,  and  not  by  choice.  No  evidence  has  yet  been  found 
in  the  mounds  pointing  to  the  first  comers  into  the  section. 
On  the  contrary,  all  the  evidences  of  migration  point  at  the 
same  time  to  pressure  or  obstacles  in  one  or  more  directions. 
For  example:  the  mound-builders  of  Wisconsin  must  have 
found  some  obstacle  which  prevented  them  from  continuing 
their  course  eastward  around  the  southern  end  of  Lake 
Michigan,  while  the  pressure  which  drove  them  from  the 
area  they  had  occupied  so  long  seems  to  have  come  from  the 
north-east. 

The  singular  course  of  the  people  who  buried  in  the  stone 
graves  south  of  the  Ohio,  whether  moving  eastward  or  west- 
ward, can  be  explained  only  on  the  theory  of  the  presence 
of  other  tribes  to  the  north  and  south ;  and  this  is  probably 
true,  as  has  been  suggested,  in  regard  to  the  people  who 
travelled  from  eastern  Iowa  to  Ohio. 

Indications  of  movements  are  found  in  other  portions  of 
the  mound  section,  but  those  mentioned  are  all  which  have 
any  immediate  bearing  on  the  subject  under  consideration 
at  present. 

Returning  now  to  the  point  where  we  paused  in  our  jour- 
ney backward  along  the  pathway  of  the  Cherokees,  the  in- 
quiry arises,  ''From  what  point,  or  along  what  line,  did 
they  come  to  their  halting-place  on  the  banks  of  the  Missis- 
sippi?" As  has  already  been  stated,  it  is  now  conceded  by 
linguists  that  their  language  is  an  offshoot  of  the  Huron- 
Iroquois  family, — a  relationship  long  ago  surmised  by  Dr. 
Barton  and  Mr.  Gallatin.  We  may  therefore,  in  answer  to 
the  above  inquiry,  though  in  a  somewhat  broader  sense  than 
given,  adopt  the  language  of  Mr.  Horatio  Hale  in  speaking 
of  the  more  closely  allied  branches  of  this  family:  "There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  their  ancestors  formed  one  body,  and 
indeed  dwelt  at  one  time  (as  has  been  well  said  of  the  an 


92  THE   CHEROKEES  IN   PRE-COLUMBIA.N   TIMES. 

cestors  of  the  Indo-European  populations),  under  one  roof. 
There  was  a  Huron-Iroquois  'family  pair'  from  which  all 
these  tribes  were  descended.  In  what  part  of  the  world  this 
ancestral  household  resided  is  a  question  which  admits  of  no 
reply  except  from  the  merest  conjecture."  He  adds,  how- 
ever, "that  the  evidence  of  language,  so  far  as  it  has  yet 
been  examined,  seems  to  show  that  the  Huron  clans  were 
the  older  members  of  the  group;  and  the  clear  and  positive 
traditions  of  all  the  surviving  tribes,  Hurons,  Iroquois,  and 
Tuscaroras,  point  to  the  Lower  St.  Lawrence  as  the  earliest 
known  abode  of  their  stock." 

If  the  evidence  presented  in  this  paper  be  considered  suffi- 
cient to  justify  the  belief  that  the  Cherokees  entered  the 
Ohio  valley  from  the  west,  we  are,  then,  forced  to  one  of 
two  conclusions,  which  may  be  stated  hriefly  as  follows: 
first,  that  this  tribe,  breaking  away  from  the  family  in  its 
eastern  home,  wandered  westward,  passing  between  Lake 
Superior  and  Lake  Huron  into  what  is  now  Wisconsin,  and 
onward  to  the  border  of  the  plains,  turning  thence  south- 
ward to  the  point  on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi  where  we 
first  find  them;  or,  second  (which  is  far  more  likely),  the 
original  stock  was  at  one  time  in  the  distant  past  located  in 
the  region  north-west  of  Lake  Superior,  and  while  here 
the  Cherokees  separated  from  their  brethren,  and  moved 
southward  to  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  while  the 
latter,  being  pressed  onward,  moved  eastward,  north  of  the 
Lakes,  to  the  banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  If  this  suppo- 
sition accords  with  what  really  was  the  direction  of  the 
movement,  then  it  is  highly  probable,  that,  when  they 
reached  the  Ottawa  River,  a  portion  followed  down  its 
course,  while  others  turned  southward  into  what  is  now  On- 
tario, and  were  in  that  section  when  the  Lenape  appeared  on 
the  scene. 

The  first  of  these  suppositions  presents  a  movement  so  un- 
likely, though  not  entirely  without  a  parallel  in  Indian  his- 


THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES.  93 

tory,  that  we  feel  constrained  to  reject  it,  so  long  as  there  is 
a  theory  consistent  with  the  known  data  that  is  more  simple 
and  reasonable. 

The  eWdence  presented  by  Mr.  Hale  in  the  "Iroquois  Book 
of  Rites"  leaves  no  doubt  that  the  earliest  known  seat  of  the 
Huron-Troquois  family  was  on  the  Lower  St.  Lawrence;  but 
it  is  scarcely  presumable  that  their  first  appearance  on  the 
continent  was  in  this  eastern  region.  It  is  more  likely  that 
they  had  reached  this  point  from  some  western  section,  and 
as  they  increased  in  numbers  were  forced  to  partially  retrace 
their  steps. 

Although  it  is  apparent  that  the  authors  of  the  ancient 
works  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  were  substantially  in  the 
same  culture  state,  and  belong  to  the  same  race  in  the  broad 
sense,  yet  there  are  some  reasons  for  supposing  (if  we  in- 
clude the  ancient  works  of  New  York  under  the  general 
term  "mounds")  that  the  custom  of  building  mounds  origi- 
nated independently  in  some  two  or  three  different  sections. 
This  is  inferred  from  the  fact  that  there  appear  to  be  at  least 
three  comprehensive  classes  of  works:  first,  those  of  the 
Huron -Iroquois  region;  second,  those  of  the  Dakotan  dis- 
trict; and,  third,  those  of  the  southern  section.  These  are 
not  limited  by  ethnic  lines,  as  the  people  who  built  the 
works  along  what  we  have  designated  the  Cherokee  and 
Shawnee  belts  probably  derived  the  custom  from  the  south- 
ern mound-builders. 

The  southern  Dakotans,  as  the  Quapaws  and  cognate 
tribes,  also  built  mounds  of  the  southern  type.  It  is  possi- 
ble, however,  that  future  discoveries  in  the  north-west  and 
south  west  may  throw  additional  light  on  these  questions, 
and  modify  the  views  here  advanced,  which  are  based,  as  a 
matter  of  course,  only  on  the  data  so  far  obtained. 

The  attempt  to  estimate  the  time  that  has  elapsed  since  the 
arrival  of  the  Cherokees  on  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi  (as- 
suming the  theory  advanced   to  be  correct)   or  since  their 


94  THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES. 

meeting  with  the  Lenape  must  be  almost  wholly  conjectural. 
Mr.  Hale  says  the  time  which  has  elapsed  "since  the  Tal- 
legwi  were  overthrown"  is  variously  estimated,  but  that  the 
most  probable  conjecture  places  it  at  a  period  about  a  thou- 
sand years  before  the  present  day,  which  would  carry  it  back 
to  the  ninth  centur}^  Basing  the  estimate  on  the  traditional 
evidence,  for  mound  evidence  gives  but  little  aid  in  this  re- 
spect before  contact  with  the  whites,  it  would  seem  to  be 
more  nearly  correct  to  place  the  event  in  the  eleventh  or 
twelfth  century.  How  long  they  had  remained  in  this  re- 
gion when  the  war  with  the  Lenape  occurred  is  a  question 
that  must  be  left  wholly  to  conjecture  until  other  data  than 
those  we  now  possess  are  obtained ;  but  it  must  have  been  a 
stay  of  some  centuries,  during  which,  as  before  said,  they 
had  lived  in  comparative  peace.  There  are  some  reasons  for 
believing  that  during  this  time  another  tribe  had  pushed  its 
way  up  the  Ohio  River  to  the  region  about  the  mouth  of  the 
Miami.  It  is  even  probable  that  bands  had  crossed  to  the 
north  side  of  the  Ohio,  and  established  themselves  along  the 
banks  of  the  two  Miamis.  These  I  am  inclined  to  believe, 
as  heretofore  remarked,  were  Shawnees  who  probably  en- 
tered the  Mississippi  valley  after  the  advent  of  the  Chero- 
kees.  There  is  some  evidence,  however,  in  this  region,  of 
the  presence  of  another  small  tribe  which  must  have  been 
driven  out  or  destroyed.  The  remains  which  indicate  the 
presence  of  this  tribe  are  peculiar  stone  heaps  and  stone 
graves.  It  is  possible  that  the  presence  of  other  people  in 
this  part  of  the  Ohio  valley  caused  the  Cherokees  to  retreat 
up  the  Kanawha  instead  of  southward  across  Kentucky. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  importance  archaeologically  of  the  questions  here  dis- 
cussed does  not  end  with  their  bearing  upon  the  history  of 
a  single  tribe,  for  at  almost  every  point  there  are  side  con- 
nections with  other  peoples.  If  it  be  admitted  that  the 
Cherokees  were  mound-builders  down  to  the  appearance  of 
the  white  race  on  the  continent,  the  mystery  of  the  builders 
of  our  ancient  monuments  is  virtually  dispelled;  for  the 
lines  which  radiate  from  this  point  are  so  numerous  and  so 
far-reaching,  that,  when  traced  out  to  their  utmost  extent, 
the  whole  realm  of  mound-builders  will  have  been  traversed. 
This  is  a  view  of  the  subject  which  has  not  received  due 
consideration  on  the  part  of  those  who  admit  that  some  of 
the  works  are  attributable  to  Indians,  yet  claim  that  others 
are  due  to  a  different  and  more  highly  cultivated  race.  An 
illustration  by  partially  tracing  one  or  two  of  these  lines 
will  serve  to  impress  the  reader  with  the  importance  of  in- 
vestigation in  this  direction. 

Reference  has  already  been  made  to  the  fact  that  engraved 
shells  similar  to  those  found  in  the  mounds  of  North  Caro- 
lina and  East  Tennessee  have  been  discovered  in  stone 
graves  of  a  particular  type,  and  that  stone  graves  of  this 
type  often  occur  in  mounds  assigned,  even  by  disbelievers  of 

95 


96  THE  CHEROKEES  IN  PRE-COLUMBIAN  TIMES. 

the  Indian  theory,  to  the  true  mound-building  age.  As  the 
designs  on  these  shells  are  peculiar,  it  is  reasonable  to  con- 
clude that  the  builders  of  the  two  classes  of  works  we're  con- 
temporaneous, or  that  there  was  an  overlapping  to  some  ex- 
tent chronologically.  Following  up  this  line,  which  is 
traceable  by  other  indications  than  merely  the  form  of  the 
sepulchres  in  which  the  dead  were  buried,  we  are  led  in  one 
direction  to  the  banks  of  the  Delaware,  where,  history  and 
archaeology  inform  us,  the  Indians  of  that  locality  were 
burying  their  dead  in  tombs  of  the  peculiar  type  mentioned, 
as  late  as  the  time  of  William  Penn.  It  carries  us  in  an- 
other direction,  to  southern  Illinois,  where  links  are  found 
connecting  unmistakably  with  the  historic  tribes  of  that  sec- 
tion. 

Going  back  to  the  Cumberland  valley,  the  chief  seat  of 
these  stone-grave  builders,  other  lines  start  out  which  lead  to 
the  ancient  works  of  south-eastern  Missouri.  Speaking  of 
objects  taken  from  "the  peculiar  stone  graves  of  the  South- 
ern States,"  especially  those  of  the  Cumberland  valley,  Pro- 
fessor Putnam  states  that  he  has  classed  these  "as  belonging 
to  the  southern  mound-builders,  from  the  fact  that  the  care- 
ful exploration  of  thousands  of  the  graves,  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  Museum,  shows  that  their  contents,  including  the 
human  remains,  are  of  the  same  character  as  those  of  the  burial 
mounds  in  general,  in  the  same  region.  .  .  .  We  have  con- 
clusive evidence,  in  the  objects  here  arranged,  that  the 
stone-grave  people  of  the  south-west,  and  at  least  one  group 
of  the  mound-builders,  were  one  and  the  same  people." 

In  another  place  he  says,  "Many  of  these  carved  disks  of 
shell  have  been  found  in  the  graves  and  mounds  of  Tennes- 
see and  Missouri,  and,  with  the  identity  of  the  associated  pot- 
tery from  the  two  localities,  go  far  to  prove  the  unity  of  the 
people,  notwithstanding  some  slight  differences  in  burial 
customs." 

Although  it  is  probable  that  Professor  Putnam  is  not  jus- 


THE   CHEROKEES   IN   PRE-COLUMBIAN   TIMES.  97 

tified  in  concluding  that  the  people  of  the  two  sections  were 
tribally  identical  (if  this  be  his  meaning:),  yet  the  strong 
similarity  in  the  forms,  ornamentation,  and  character  of  the 
pottery  leaves  no  doubt  that  they  were  contemporaneous, 
and,  in  consequence  of  contact  or  intercourse,  had  adopted 
in  some  respects  similar  customs. 

Thus  it  is  seen,  that,  commencing*  with  the  mounds  of  the 
Cherokee  district,  the  connecting-  lines  lead  to  the  modern 
and  non-mound-building  tribes  of  the  Delaware  valley,  to 
the  historical  tribes  of  Illinois,  and  to  the  veritable  mound- 
builders  of  middle  Tennessee  and  south-eastern  Missouri. 
Nor  do  these  complete  the  list  of  points  to  which  the 
branches  of  this  single  diverging  line  lead  us.  As  there  are 
other  diverging  lines,  it  is  apparent,  that,  when  all  have 
been  traced  out  along  their  various  branches,  a  large  por- 
tion of  the  mound  area  will  have  been  traversed. 

This  renders  it  highly  probable  that  there  was  no  manifest 
break  in  the  mound-building  age.  It  may  have  continued, 
and  probably  did,  for  many  centuries,  but  there  is  no  satis- 
factory evidence  found  in  the  monuments  that  there  were 
two  distinct  mound-building  ages.  On  the  contrary,  the 
historical,  traditional,  and  archa?ologic  testimony  is  decidedly 
in  favor  of  the  theory  that  our  prehistoric  works  are  attribut- 
able to  the  Indian  tribes  found  inhabiting  this  country  at  its 
discovery,  and  their  ancestors. 


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ologists connected  with  the  United  States  Signal 
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THE  CHEROKEES  IK  PRE-COLUMBIAB  TIMES 

By  Cyrus  Thomas.     13°.     $1. 

Dr.  Thomas  in  this  work  will  reverse  the  usual 
method  of  dealing  with  prehistoric  subjects  ;  that  is 
to  say,  he  will  commence  with  the  earliest  recorded 
history  of  the  tribe  as  a  basis  and  trace  the  chain 
back  step  by  step  by  the  light  of  the  mounds,  tradi- 
tions, and  other  evidence,  as  far  as  possible.  He 
has  already  presented  to  the  public  some  reasons 
for  believing  the  Cherokees  were  mound-builders, 
but  additional  evidence  bearing  on  the  subject  has 
been  obtained.  A  more  careful  study  of  the  Dela- 
ware tradition  respecting  the  Tallegwi  satisfies  him 
that  we  have  in  the  Bark  Record  (Walam  Olum) 
itself  proof  that  they  were  Cherokees.  He  thinks 
the  mounds  enable  us  to  trace  back  their  line  of 
migration  even  beyond  their  residence  in  Ohio  to 
the  western  bank  of  the  Mississippi.  The  object  is 
therefore  threefold:  1.  An  illustration  of  the  re- 
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2.  Incidental  proof  that  some  of  the  Indians  were 
mound-builders  ;  3.  A  study  of  a  single  tribe  in  the 
light  of  the  mound  testimony.  This  work  will  be  an 
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THE  WINNIPEG  COUNTRY; 

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"  The  picture  of  our  desolate  North-western  terri- 
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